CASP licence in Lithuania: MiCA authorisation from the Bank of Lithuania

Lithuania closed its VASP regime on 1 January 2026, six months before the latest date MiCA allowed. The cheap Lithuanian crypto company is gone. What exists now is a CASP authorisation from the Bank of Lithuania under MiCA: the same rulebook, the same capital and the same file as anywhere else in the Union.

What actually happened

For years Lithuania was the volume jurisdiction. A registered company, a resident AML officer, a modest fee, and several hundred VASPs appeared on the register. That model rested on a national regime, and MiCA replaced national regimes with one European authorisation. Lithuania set a 12-month transitional period, which ended on 31 December 2025; 15 of the 27 member states kept the full 18 months to 1 July 2026 (ESMA list of transitional periods; Bank of Lithuania notice). Since 1 January 2026, providing crypto services in Lithuania without a MiCA authorisation is unlawful.

If you are reading an offer for a «Lithuanian crypto licence in three weeks for a few thousand euro», it is describing a product that no longer exists. Ask the seller for the authorisation number in the Bank of Lithuania's public register.

What replaced it

A CASP authorisation issued by the Bank of Lithuania. It covers custody, exchange of crypto-assets for funds or other crypto-assets, operating a trading platform, execution, reception and transmission of orders, placement, transfers, portfolio management and advice — and it passports to the whole European Economic Area by notification.

• Own funds — € 50 000 for advice and order execution, € 125 000 for custody or exchange, € 150 000 for a trading platform; or one quarter of the previous year's fixed overheads, whichever is higher.
• Timeline — the regulator has 25 working days to confirm completeness and 40 working days to decide; preparation takes three to six months. Four to twelve months in total.
• Substance — management resident in Lithuania, real premises, staff, decisions taken locally.

Who holds a CASP licence in Lithuania

On 9 November 2026 ESMA’s interim MiCA register listed 6 CASP records with Lithuania as home member state, all supervised by the Bank of Lithuania and all private limited companies (UAB). Five were authorised before the transitional period ended on 31 December 2025; UAB Micar assets followed on 26 February 2026. Malta had 24 records and Estonia 3 on the same date: CASP count for all 27 countries.

Source: ESMA interim MiCA register, CASP file, downloaded 9 November 2026 (latest record update 3 November 2026). Service letters follow Article 3(1)(16) of MiCA: a custody, c and d exchange, e execution, g reception and transmission of orders, j transfers.

How to check a Lithuanian crypto licence

The Bank of Lithuania keeps a public database of financial market participants that can be filtered by type, crypto-asset service providers included (Bank of Lithuania database). Search it by company name or code, then find the same company in ESMA’s CASP file and compare the authorised services and countries with what the firm offers you. An old Lithuanian VASP registration has given no rights since 1 January 2026, so ask for the MiCA authorisation instead. How to read a register record, and where the Estonian, Maltese and UK registers are: MiCA CASP register: how to check a crypto firm.

The applicant is a company that already exists. Article 59 of MiCA requires a registered office in Lithuania, effective management in the Union and at least one director resident in the Union. Step by step: setting up a Lithuanian UAB for a CASP application.

Does Lithuania still make sense?

Sometimes, for regulatory reasons. The Bank of Lithuania supervises a large fintech population, its e-money and payment licensing practice is one of the most active in the Union, and if your model combines crypto with payment services that concentration of expertise in one regulator is genuinely useful. Costs are lower than in western Europe, correspondence is workable in English, and the country is inside the euro area.

It stops making sense if you were choosing Lithuania because it was easy. That reason expired everywhere in the Union at once, because the capital and the application file are now the same in every member state.

Lithuania CASP licence requirements

The requirements come from MiCA, and the Bank of Lithuania applies them as competent authority: Article 59 (a legal person with its registered office in Lithuania, effective management in the Union, at least one director resident in the Union), Article 62 (what the application contains), Article 67 (own funds), Article 68 (management body and qualifying shareholders) and Article 70 (safekeeping of client crypto-assets and funds). In practice the file is assessed on seven points:

• fit and proper assessment of managers and beneficial owners, including source of funds;
• substance: local management, premises, key functions performed in the country;
• AML/CFT programme, MLRO, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, Travel Rule;
• ICT and operational resilience under DORA, outsourcing, incident reporting;
• segregation and safekeeping of client assets, custody policy, key management;
• governance, conflicts of interest, complaints, marketing communications;
• capital, prudential safeguards and a wind-down plan.

If you hold an old Lithuanian VASP registration

It stopped being a permission on 1 January 2026. There is no conversion. Three practical routes exist: file for a CASP authorisation in Lithuania, file in another member state whose regulator fits your model better, or wind down the regulated activity in an orderly way while you decide. We will tell you which of the three your file actually supports at a consultation (30 min — €100).

How we work on it

1. Model review: consultation, 30 min — €100

What you do, which MiCA service classes it maps to, and whether Lithuania is the right regulator for it.

2. Structure and substance

Company, resident management, office, staffing, budget, capital.

3. The application file

Programme of operations, AML/CFT framework, ICT and security, custody and safeguarding, business continuity, wind-down plan, financial projections.

4. Filing and correspondence

We file with the Bank of Lithuania and carry the questions through to a decision.

5. After authorisation

Reporting, MLRO support, passporting notifications, changes of control and service classes.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still buy a Lithuanian VASP company?

You can buy the company. The permission stays behind: the VASP register stopped conferring rights on 1 January 2026, so an offer presenting such a company as an operating licence misdescribes what is being sold.

What are the requirements for a crypto licence in Lithuania?

The MiCA requirements, applied by the Bank of Lithuania: a legal person with its registered office in Lithuania, effective management in the Union and at least one director resident in the Union (Article 59); own funds of €50 000, €125 000 or €150 000 depending on the services (Article 67); fit and proper management and shareholders (Article 68); safekeeping of client assets (Article 70); and a complete application under Article 62.

Is Lithuania cheaper than Estonia or Malta?

Capital and documentation are set by MiCA and identical. Local costs differ modestly. The old price gap disappeared with the national regimes.

Why did Lithuania close earlier than other countries?

Article 143(3) of MiCA let member states shorten the transitional period. Lithuania set 12 months, so it ended on 31 December 2025; 15 member states, Estonia and Malta among them, kept the full 18 months to 1 July 2026.

Can a Lithuanian CASP serve clients across the EU?

Yes, through passporting notification: one authorisation, all member states.

How many crypto firms hold a CASP authorisation in Lithuania?

ESMA’s interim MiCA register on 9 November 2026 listed 6 records with Lithuania as home member state, all supervised by the Bank of Lithuania: UAB BLUE EMI LT, Robinhood Europe UAB, Newrails UAB, Nuvei Liquidity UAB, UAB Decentralized and UAB Micar assets.

Where can I check a Lithuanian crypto licence?

In the Bank of Lithuania’s database of financial market participants, filtered by crypto-asset service providers, and in ESMA’s interim MiCA register. Our guide to the MiCA CASP register explains how to read an entry.

We are outside the EU and only have EU customers. Do we need this?

Yes, unless the client approached you entirely on their own initiative. Soliciting EU clients without authorisation counts as unauthorised activity.

Reviewed: 9 November 2026, against Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA, EUR-Lex), ESMA’s list of transitional periods under Article 143(3), the Bank of Lithuania notice on the end of the transitional period on 31 December 2025, and ESMA’s interim MiCA register file downloaded on 9 November 2026.