Crypto license in Czech Republic

EU MiCA (CASP)Last reviewed 2026-08-24

Do you need a crypto license in Czech Republic?

Yes, from the Czech National Bank, and the change from what came before is larger than it sounds. The old route was an ordinary trade licence rather than a financial permission, and the bank has authorized 11 firms out of 251 applications it assessed.

Read this before you plan an application

The old trade licence route no longer permits crypto-asset services, and its low barrier is a poor guide to what replaced it. A notifiable trade registration and a Czech National Bank authorization are different instruments with different requirements.

The Czech Republic did not previously license crypto businesses in any meaningful sense. Providing virtual asset services required a notifiable trade authorization under the Trade Licensing Act, the same instrument that covers ordinary commercial activity, with anti-money-laundering oversight from the Financial Analytical Office rather than prudential supervision from a financial regulator. Act No. 31/2025 Coll. changed that on 15 February 2025 by making the Czech National Bank the competent authority under MiCA. The distance between the two regimes shows in the numbers: by 1 July 2026 the bank had assessed 251 applications and granted 11 authorizations.

Regime: EU MiCA (CASP)
Regulator: Česká národní banka (Czech National Bank)
Framework: Zákon o digitalizaci finančního trhu (Act on the Digitalisation of the Financial Market) (2025)
Minimum capital: EUR 50,000, EUR 125,000 or EUR 150,000 depending on the class of services, set EU-wide by MiCA Annex IV
Time to license: MiCA allows 25 working days for the completeness check and 40 working days for the assessment. The bank's own record, 11 authorizations from 251 applications assessed, indicates that many files take considerably longer than that or end in refusal.
Foreign owners: Non-residents may own a Czech applicant company, which is normally an s.r.o. or an a.s. MiCA sets no nationality condition on ownership, though the company must be Czech and genuinely governed as one.

The framework

Act No. 31/2025 Coll., the zákon o digitalizaci finančního trhu, entered into force on 15 February 2025 and made the Czech National Bank the competent authority for MiCA and for the EU operational resilience regulation.

What came before

Until then, providing services around virtual assets required a trade authorization under the živnostenský zákon, the Trade Licensing Act, as a notifiable unqualified trade. That is a general commercial registration, not a supervised financial licence, and the Financial Analytical Office handled anti-money-laundering oversight of the firms that held one. Anyone describing the old Czech route as a crypto licence is describing something that was never a licence in the financial sense.

Firms holding a trade authorization could keep operating only if they applied for a MiCA authorization by 31 July 2025, and then only until the bank decided on that application, with an outside limit of 1 July 2026.

What you can apply for

The three classes come from MiCA Annex IV and are the same in every member state. Custody and administration is Class 2 at EUR 125,000, alongside the two exchange services. Operating a trading platform is Class 3 at EUR 150,000.

The numbers, and what they mean

The bank issued its first six authorizations on 11 February 2026. By 1 July 2026 it had assessed 251 applications, including notifications from firms already regulated in other financial sectors, and had granted 11 authorizations in total. That ratio is the most useful single fact about licensing here: the great majority of applicants either withdrew, were refused, or were still waiting when the transition window closed.

Costs

The Czech National Bank does not publish a single headline application fee for this authorization, and administrative charges fall under the general Act on Administrative Fees. Capital follows the EU-wide table.

What to watch

Crypto-assets that fall outside MiCA, such as unique and non-fungible ones, are handled separately by the Financial Analytical Office under a permit procedure in the anti-money-laundering act. That route runs alongside the bank's authorization rather than replacing it.

License classes in Czech Republic

License classes, the activities each covers, and their fees and capital requirements where published.
Class	Covers	Fee	Capital
Class 1	Reception and transmission of orders, execution of orders on behalf of clients, placing of crypto-assets, transfer services on behalf of clients, advice on crypto-assets, portfolio management of crypto-assets	Not published	EUR 50,000
Class 2	Custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, exchange of crypto-assets for funds, exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets	Not published	EUR 125,000
Class 3	Operation of a trading platform for crypto-assets	Not published	EUR 150,000

What the application requires

Czech company, normally an s.r.o. or an a.s.
Paid up own funds matching the class applied for
Anti-money-laundering programme and internal controls
Operational resilience documentation aligned with DORA
Fit and proper clearance for management and qualifying shareholders
Programme of operations covering each service to be provided

The application process

Form the company
Incorporate a Czech company with a registered office
Build the file
Programme of operations, business plan, governance, anti-money-laundering and resilience documentation
Apply
File the application with the Czech National Bank
Completeness check
A 25 working day review of whether the file is complete
Substantive assessment
A 40 working day review follows, extendable while questions are answered
Authorization
On approval the firm enters the EU register and can passport across the bloc

Costs and taxation

The Czech National Bank does not publish a headline application fee, so the ratio of 11 authorizations to 251 assessed applications is the more useful cost signal: the expense sits in preparing a file that survives review, not in the filing itself.

A licensed Czech crypto company pays the standard corporate income tax rate of 21 percent on its profits. There is no reduced rate and no special regime for crypto-asset service providers.

Who is licensed today

The Czech National Bank had granted 11 crypto-asset service provider authorizations from 251 applications assessed by 1 July 2026, so the register is far smaller than the number of firms that applied. Authorized firms also appear in the pan-EU register maintained by ESMA.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the old Czech crypto trade licence still valid?

No. It was a general commercial registration rather than a financial licence, and it stopped permitting crypto-asset services once the transition window closed on 1 July 2026.

How hard is it to get a crypto licence in the Czech Republic?

Harder than the process looks from outside. The Czech National Bank had granted 11 authorizations from 251 applications it assessed by 1 July 2026.

Who regulates crypto companies in the Czech Republic?

The Czech National Bank, under Act No. 31/2025 Coll., which replaced anti-money-laundering only oversight by the Financial Analytical Office.

What happened to firms with an old Czech crypto trade licence?

They could keep operating only if they applied for authorization by 31 July 2025, and then only until the bank decided or 1 July 2026, whichever came first.

What does a Czech crypto authorization cost?

The bank does not publish a headline application fee. The capital floor is EUR 50,000 to EUR 150,000 depending on the services provided.

Sources

Buying bitcoin as an individual is a different question entirely: how to buy bitcoin in Czech Republic covers exchanges, payment methods and legality for residents, and the crypto license hub compares every jurisdiction we track.