The President of the Republic promulgated this Saturday, December 13th, with reservations, new rules on cryptoactives, derived from European regulations, stating that he did so so that Portugal would not be punished and because he considered it better to have “poor control” than none at all.
At issue are parliamentary decrees that implement three European regulations, namely the European Regulation on the Cryptoactive Market (MiCA), approved in 2023, but which had not yet been applied in Portugal.
In a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa states that “cryptocurrencies raise several reservations about the nature, function, taxation, systemic risks and effectiveness of regulatory control”.
“The European Commission itself considers existing European control to be insufficient, prior to strengthening the role of the European Financial Mechanisms Authority (ESMA), as a concentrated supervisory entity”, it reads.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa says he shares “a good part of these reservations” and promulgated the three decrees of the Assembly of the Republic for three reasons: “Portugal will not be punished for failing to implement European regulations; it is, despite everything, less bad to have deficient control than there is none; the diplomas provide for powers of the Bank of Portugal and the Securities Market Commission (CMVM), in addition to those of European regulations, if necessary”.
These decrees were approved by the Assembly of the Republic on December 5th.
The decree that aims to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in operations involving digital assets, transposing European regulation 2023/1113 into national law, was approved with votes in favor from PSD, CDS-PP, PS, Chega, Livre, PAN and JPP. The PCP, BE and IL abstained.
What transposes the new rules of European regulation 2023/1114, known as “Mica”, into Portuguese legislation, was approved with the favorable votes of PSD, CDS-PP, PS, Chega, IL, PAN and JPP. The PCP and BE voted against. Livre abstained.
In the case of the first legislative text, the proposal adapts the current money laundering prevention rules that already apply to the financial sector to transfers of cryptoassets.
As of July 1, 2026, “cryptoactive service providers based in Portugal” who obtain authorization to operate here will be considered financial entities for the purposes of supervision carried out by the Bank of Portugal, having to comply with the same rules that banks already have to follow to prevent cases of money laundering and terrorist financing.
If financial entities identify a “high risk” of money laundering in transfers of funds or crypto-assets, they will have to “know the entire circuit of funds or crypto-assets” and “all those involved” to ensure that “only entities or people duly authorized to process” operations with crypto-assets intervene, in whatever capacity.
The second approved proposal is complementary to this initiative. The text defines who are the authorities responsible for supervising this sector in Portugal – dividing control between the Bank of Portugal (BdP) and the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) –, what are the cooperation obligations between these two supervisors and, in turn, these national entities with their respective European supervisors.
In this plenary, another diploma was also approved that implements European regulation 2024/886, on immediate credit transfers in euros, which was promulgated today by the President of the Republic. The text was approved by PSD, CDS-PP, PS, Chega, IL, Livre and JPP. The PCP, BE and PAN abstained.