Crypto License in Italy

The OAM, or Organismo degli Agenti e dei Mediatori, was Italy’s pre-2026 gateway for crypto firms. Providers that registered as virtual asset service providers with the OAM before the cutoff date could serve Italian clients under Legislative Decree 141/2010 and its implementing provisions, while the country built out its full regulatory framework in parallel.

Registered operators had to meet Italian AML obligations and file quarterly reports to the register, a lighter regime than the one that has replaced it.

That window has closed. Registration with the OAM no longer authorizes anyone to operate here on its own. Firms that held that status used it as a bridge into full authorization. However, since the transitional period expired on 1 July 2026, no firm can continue to operate in Italy while its application is pending in the queue; any platforms that did not secure their formal authorization by the deadline have been required to wind down their Italian operations and return client funds under supervision.

A number of previously registered platforms are still working through the authorization queue at Consob in an inactive state rather than relying on their old status.

For a founder starting today, the OAM register is worth understanding as regulatory history, since it shapes how the market is structured now. It isn’t a route to market anymore, though. The only route runs through Consob, starting from a clean application rather than a legacy registration.

MiCA is the reason the Italy digital currency market looks different in 2026 than it did two years ago. Every provider offering custody, exchange operation, trading platform services, or advisory work involving crypto assets to clients here now needs a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization. Consob is the lead national competent authority responsible for granting it, acting on a formal opinion from Banca d’Italia, which also supervises AML compliance and electronic money and asset-referenced token issuers in the country.

This matters beyond the paperwork. An authorization issued here carries EU passporting rights: a firm licensed in Italy can serve clients across the other 26 member states without filing a fresh application in each one. That’s the real commercial upside of building a regulated presence in this market, one approval, coordinated supervision, and access to roughly 450 million consumers.

Founders often underestimate this: the authorization is a Union-wide one once granted.

Consob’s review goes beyond checking boxes. Applicants should expect substantive questions about how the business will actually operate day to day, not just whether the paperwork is in order.

An application in Italy has to satisfy several compliance tracks at once, and none of them can be an afterthought. The core requirements:

Applicants should also expect scrutiny of fit-and-proper assessments for shareholders and senior management (including source-of-funds checks), a business plan covering the specific services offered and projected volumes, client asset segregation arrangements, and complaint-handling and conflict-of-interest procedures that Consob can audit.

Consob is formally required to decide on a complete file within 40 working days. In practice, most submissions need follow-up clarifications and take three to six months from filing to approval.

Under Consob Resolution No. 23700/2025, entities must pay a flat supervisory fee of EUR 20,000 at the time of submitting the application, separate from legal, compliance, and corporate setup costs.

Securing authorization in Italy means coordinating legal drafting, AML program design, capital structuring, and a formal filing with Consob, often while the client is also setting up banking relationships and building the operational team the regulator expects to see in place.

LegalBison’s model puts a single point of contact in front of the client while its legal, compliance, and corporate administration specialists handle each track behind the scenes.

That covers the full arc: business model analysis to determine the correct service classification, drafting and submission of the MiCA license application, an AML program built to Italian and FATF standards, and coordination with banking partners for fiat and crypto account access once the entity is formed. The same team handles company formation, so a client entering this market isn’t managing a separate incorporation process on top of the licensing track.

For businesses weighing Italy against other EU entry points, LegalBison’s broader crypto license and CASP license advisory work spans jurisdictions across the EU and beyond, giving founders a comparative view of cost, timeline, and regulatory posture before committing capital and management time to one market.

LegalBison can’t promise a particular outcome or timeline; every application depends on the business model and how complete the file is when it reaches the regulator. What the firm offers is a structured, project-managed path through a process that would otherwise mean coordinating several disconnected specialists across two countries.

Speak to LegalBison’s crypto experts to secure your Italy digital currency license today. Book a free consultation to walk through your business model and the fastest compliant path into the Italian and broader EU market.