PSAN is the register of providers of virtual currency exchange for fiat currency and wallet custody services, kept by the Banco de España for anti-money laundering purposes. It is a register for providing those services to third parties: issuing your own tokenized security does not by itself make a company a PSAN.
What exactly the PSAN registry is
The registry of virtual asset service providers of the Bank of Spain was created with a specific and limited purpose: the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. It is not a license to operate in the securities market nor a general financial authorization.
It applies to those who provide two types of service to third parties: the exchange of virtual currency for fiat currency and the custody of electronic wallets, understood as the holding of the keys that allow disposing of another's assets.
The word that decides everything: to third parties
Here is the point that is most often misunderstood. The obligation arises from providing those services to others as an activity, not from holding or issuing crypto-assets. A company that issues its own instrument and does not exchange virtual currency for fiat for clients, nor provides custody of others' keys, is not, for that reason alone, providing either of the two registered services.
It is a distinction with real economic consequences, because many projects budget for a registration process that their model does not require, or the opposite: they assume it does not affect them when they are indeed going to custody their investors' keys.
When yes and when no
- You issue a tokenized negotiable security and an ERIR handles the registration: it is not, in itself, a registered service.
- You are going to custody your investors' keys: then it is worth analyzing, because the custody of third-party wallets is precisely one of the two cases.
- You are going to allow your users to buy with euros within your platform and you operate the exchange: same case, it must be analyzed.
- You work with a third party that provides those services: the obligation falls on the one who provides them, not necessarily on you.
Why it is confused with MiCA authorization
The PSAN register and the authorization regime for crypto-asset service providers under the MiCA Regulation respond to different logics: the first is a register for anti-money laundering purposes; the second is an authorization and supervision regime for the activity. The fact that both affect companies in the same sector does not make them the same, and the transition between one and the other is a matter that should be reviewed against the regulatory situation in force at each moment.
There is also an earlier layer that is forgotten: if what is issued is a financial instrument, the operation falls outside the scope of MiCA and is governed by securities market regulations. Before asking what authorization is needed, it is worth resolving whether what is issued is a transferable security.
The correct order of the questions
Many projects start at the end, asking what license they need. The sequence that saves time and money is the reverse:
- What is issued and what rights it incorporates.
- What regime corresponds to it according to that nature.
- What services are going to be provided to third parties, which is what activates registrations and authorizations.
- Who provides each service: in-house or by a specialized third party.
Once those four are answered, the question of which registration is needed usually answers itself, and in many cases the answer is that the company does not need one of its own because it does not provide any of the services subject to registration.
Frequently asked questions
What is a PSAN?
It is a virtual asset service provider registered in the Banco de España register for anti-money laundering purposes. It covers those who provide third parties with the exchange of virtual currency for fiat currency or the custody of electronic wallets.
Do I need to be a PSAN to tokenize an asset?
Not because of issuing. The obligation arises from providing the registered services to third parties, not from holding or issuing crypto-assets. A company that issues its own instrument and does not exchange virtual currency for fiat currency or custody third-party keys is not providing either of the two services.
Who must register as a PSAN?
Anyone who provides as an activity the exchange of virtual currency for fiat currency or the custody of third-party electronic wallets. If those services are provided by an external provider, the obligation falls on it, not necessarily on the issuer.
HokenFi is a software and infrastructure provider; it does not provide regulated services (CASP, ESI, EAF, or ERIR). This article is informative and does not constitute financial or legal advice.
