Crypto Licence in Austria
FMA CASP Authorisation

Yes, by the ordinary route, which is now the only route: an authorisation under Article 59(1)(a) and Article 63 MiCA, decided by the FMA. § 23 Abs. 1 MiCA-VVG ended Austrian grandfathering on 31 December 2025 and nothing replaced it. There is no transitional or simplified alternative left to apply for.

Not as a permission to trade. § 43a Abs. 1 FM-GwG treated a provider registered under § 32a as a crypto-asset service provider only until 31 December 2025, or until the FMA granted or refused an Article 63 authorisation, whichever came first. § 43a Abs. 2 adds that revoking a registration extinguished the Article 143(3) right.

Both, for different things. 1 July 2026 is the maximum Article 143(3) MiCA allows a member state, and it is the date the FMA's own news page gives. 31 December 2025 is the Austrian date, because Austria used the second-subparagraph option and wrote it into § 23 Abs. 1 MiCA-VVG. For a date, the statute governs.

No. The Article 143(6) simplified procedure covered applications submitted between 30 December 2024 and 1 July 2026, and that window is closed in any event. What remains is the ordinary Article 63 assessment. Anyone offering a shortcut is describing a regime that no longer decides anything.

Article 59(2) requires a registered office in the member state where at least part of the services are carried out, the place of effective management in the Union, and at least one director resident in the Union. Article 62(1) sends the application to the home member state's authority, which for an Austrian applicant is the FMA.

Offering crypto-asset services contrary to Article 59 MiCA carries a fine of up to EUR 700,000, or twice the benefit derived including a loss avoided, for a natural person (§ 11 Z 3 MiCA-VVG). For a legal person the ceiling is EUR 5,000,000, 5 percent of annual total turnover, or twice the benefit (§ 15 Abs. 3). Clients get no MiCA protection.

The state fee is fixed by the FMA-Gebührenverordnung, Anlage 1, Tarifpost III.O.14: EUR 3,750 for a Class 1 authorisation, EUR 10,000 for Class 2 and EUR 12,500 for Class 3, in the version in force from 6 June 2026. The FMA's annual supervisory costs are apportioned separately and are not a fixed amount. Our own fee is quoted on request.

Form the Austrian company, put effective management and a Union-resident director in place, map the services to their Annex IV class, and build the Article 62(2) file. The FMA acknowledges receipt within 5 working days and checks completeness within 25. The 40-working-day decision period starts only once the application is complete.

The term of art is an authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider under Title V of MiCA. Ten services are listed in Article 3(1)(16): custody and administration, operating a trading platform, exchange for funds, exchange for other crypto-assets, execution, placing, reception and transmission, advice, portfolio management and transfer services.

Annex IV sets EUR 50,000 for Class 1, EUR 125,000 for Class 2 and EUR 150,000 for Class 3. It is not the whole requirement. Article 67(1) makes the safeguard the higher of that amount and one quarter of the preceding year's fixed overheads, reviewed annually. A new applicant uses its projected first-12-month figure.

Because the 40 working days in Article 63(9) run from a complete application, the completeness check alone may take 25 working days, and the period is suspended for up to 20 more while further information is awaited. The FMA states that no binding statement on the likely duration can be made. We give no timeline of our own.

A credit institution notifies under Article 60(1), a central securities depository under Article 60(2) for custody and administration, an investment firm under Article 60(3) for equivalent services, and market operators, e-money institutions, UCITS management companies and AIFMs within MiCA's equivalences. Each notifies at least 40 working days before providing the service.

Article 59(7) allows an authorised provider to supply crypto-asset services throughout the Union, through the right of establishment including a branch or under the freedom to provide services, and states that cross-border provision requires no physical presence in a host member state. The authorisation names the services it covers (Article 59(6)).

Article 59(2) says resident in the Union, not resident in Austria, and we do not overstate it. But the place of effective management must be in the Union, and a letterbox does not satisfy that. We supply no nominal director: the person is a real officer, assessed by the FMA under Article 63(10)(b) and Article 68(1).

The ESMA MiCAR register is the EU list, fed by the competent authorities under Article 63(13) and Article 109 MiCA. The FMA company database can be used alongside it; the FMA describes it as listing providers that have notified services into Austria. If a provider is not listed as authorised, ESMA advises taking appropriate steps.