Lithuania warns unlicensed crypto service providers of consequences

Crypto service providers in Lithuania must obtain a license by December 31 or face consequences, the country’s central bank has warned.

Any platform failing to do so this year will soon find itself operating outside the law in the Baltic state, which is now serious about enforcing European rules.

Lithuania sets deadline for crypto companies’ compliance with MiCA

All entities providing crypto-related services in Lithuania are obliged to have a license, and the monetary authority in Vilnius has urged them not to wait until the very last moment to apply for one.

A transitional period, allowing businesses active in the space, such as cryptocurrency exchange and wallet operators, to secure the necessary authorization, expires at the end of 2025.

The Central Bank of Lithuania (CBL) recently reminded participants in the market that this is not merely a recommendation, but a mandatory requirement, regional media noted this week.

The licensing regime was introduced through legislation transposing the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation into national law.

After the December 31 deadline, measures will be taken against those that continue to work unlicensed, including fines, blocking of websites and even criminal prosecution, the leading Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media detailed in a report on Wednesday.

In a notice, Lietuvos Bankas called on platforms that do not intend to file license applications to take steps to ensure they terminate their activities smoothly.

Dalia Juškevičienė, head of the CBL’s Investment Services and Undertakings Supervision Division suggested:

“Participants of the crypto-asset services market that do not plan to continue their operations should not delay and launch active communication campaigns to ensure that all of their clients are properly and timely informed of the winding down.”

She insisted users should be well-informed on the timeframe of the process and receive detailed instructions on how to transfer their fiat funds and cryptocurrency holdings elsewhere.

The executive added that customers must also be offered an option to exchange their digital coins and have the money transferred to a custodian of their choice or self-hosted wallets. The press release emphasized:

“Operators should take all possible steps to ensure that assets belonging to their clients are returned before they are no longer authorized to provide crypto-asset-related services.”

Failure to comply with regulations may result in criminal liability

Onboarding new users and accepting crypto assets as well as the continued provision of related services without a MiCA license will be deemed to constitute illegal financial activities from January 1, stressed the Central Bank of Lithuania.

The regulator also warned that under the country’s criminal code, these are punishable by way of fines and even imprisonment for up to four years.

Furthermore, Lietuvos Bankas remarked it’s empowered to restrict access to the websites of companies suspected of providing financial services outside the law.

The monetary authority maintains a database of such entities and notifies relevant law enforcement agencies about any potentially criminal activities in the industry.

Less than 10% of all Lithuanian crypto businesses have applied for license

Only about 30 organizations have so far applied for a license to operate in the cryptocurrency sector from the CBL, the announcement revealed.

That’s out of more than 370 entities officially registered as crypto service providers, although only about 120 of them are actually active and reporting revenues.

The Bank of Lithuania highlighted it has issued a special guidance for all these operators on the upcoming changes to “protect the interests of investors and ensure the transparency and integrity of the crypto-asset market.”

Lithuania has been trying to establish itself as one of the EU member states serving as MiCA gateways for crypto businesses from around the world.

The Baltic nation was recently listed among the top three jurisdictions in the 2025 World Crypto Rankings report produced by crypto exchange Bybit.

Its northern neighbor, Latvia, is another representative of the region with similar aspirations. Earlier in December, the country unveiled that the annual turnover in its fintech sector now reaches €400 million, as reported by Cryptopolitan.

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