Banco de Portugal, the country’s central bank, has licensed two local cryptocurrency exchanges for the first time, one note on the site shows. The license is given to Criptoloja from Lisboa and Mind The Coin from Braga.

“It was a long way. Pedro Borges, CEO of Criptoloja, said in a statement. The exchange filed its first license on September 29th last year, so report.

However, regulation is limited to AML / CFT purposes and does not extend to other areas of hedging, market conduct or other activities, the bank said.

Banco de Portugal is said to have received five official registration requests from stock exchanges and more than 60 “unofficial” contacts this year.

“The Banco de Portugal announcement stipulates that companies wishing to conduct business with virtual assets in Portuguese territory, as well as subsequent changes to the elements to be registered, must register,” said the announcement, referring to cryptocurrencies as “virtual” . Financial assets. ‘

Don’t fight crypto missiles

Under the terms, the Banco de Portugal’s new license regards the operation of exchange services between one or more cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies as electronic money transfer services.

Other areas include the custody and / or management of cryptocurrencies or tools that enable the control, possession, storage or transfer of such assets, including private encrypted keys.

It’s all about the subscription legal for two companies to offer exchange services to users in Portugal. Criptoloja plans to launch in the “next few weeks,” which could give the company and Mind the Coin an edge on companies that will receive subscriptions in the future.

Portugal is one of the few “friendly” countries for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bring the authorities regulate instead of prohibit Approaching a growing asset class in the hope that such steps will pay off (economically and financially) in the future.

It’s similar to many Countries in Europeand especially Latin America to do. Because after you, if you can’t fight it, you join it.