Financial innovation

The use of technology in the financial sector (FinTech) enables new services and products to be offered, increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of financial markets.

The CNMV has created this section on the website to collaborate with the sector in the promotion  of new technologies that are boosting the digital transformation of the financial sector.

Innovation hub

In 2016, the CNMV created an “innovation hub” under the name of ‘Portal Fintech’ , with the following objectives:
  • Provide support to developers and financial institutions on regulatory aspects of securities markets that might affect their projects; 
  • Create an informal space where developers and financial institutions can share their initiatives in this field;
  • Generate criteria on certain relevant Fintech issues in the securities markets.
If you have any queries on regulatory aspects of aproject or wish to present/share with us your business model on the securitiesmarket, you can contact the CNMV by completing the following  contact form or by sending an email to: fintech@cnmv.es.
Contacts through the FinTech portal do not imply the initiation of an administrative procedure. The opinions expressed by the CNMV within the framework of the Fintech portal are exclusively informative, in accordance with Law 7/2020, of November 13, for the digital transformation of the financial system and in no case will be considered a binding resolution or communication. The information provided to the Fintech portal will be treated confidentially.
Statistical data on the FinTech Portal activity

Crypto-assets

MiCA Regulation

The Regulation for crypto-asset markets (MiCA) came into force in June 2023, establishing directly applicable rules in all EU countries related to the issuance of certain crypto-assets and the activity carried out by service providers.

The rules include the following:

  • Transparency and investor protection requirements in the issuance of crypto-assets and their offer to the public or admission to a trading platform;
  • Organisational, governance and operational requirements for crypto-asset service providers and issuers of asset referenced tokens and e-money tokens;
  • It establishes notification and authorisation procedures for crypto-asset service providers and issuers of asset referenced tokens and e-money;
  • Capabilities to act of Supervisory Authorities
  • Measures to protect acquirers of cryptoassets in an issuance and customers of service providers;
  • Measures to prevent market abuse conduct.

The Regulation includes a relevant number of second and third level regulatory developments that must be approved before the Regulation is implemented. In addition, ESMA is working with national competent authorities on convergence in the authorization and supervision processes.

Updated information on the MiCA regulation and its developments: 

MICA form

The purpose of this form is to gather information on projects that are considering carrying out some of the activities listed in the MiCA Regulation and, therefore, to carry out the corresponding authorisation process with the CNMV. Additionally, those projects that so indicate it on this form will shall be informed of the relevant milestones related to the implementation of this regulation and the CNMV's actions in this regard.

This form is intended for entities that are not currently supervised by the CNMV and are not registered in the Bank of Spain's registry of virtual currency for fiat currency exchange and electronic wallet custody service providers. 

Crypto-asset advertising

Sandbox: Legislation and Procedure

The regulatory sandbox is a mechanism that allows for controlled and limited testing to be performed, under the supervision of competent authorities (CNMV (Securities Market regulator), Banco de España (the Bank of Spain) and Dirección General de Seguros (the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds), to analyse the feasibility of new business models or the use of new technologies when providing financial services.

Legislation and Relevant Information

Spanish Law 7/2020, of 13 November, on the digital transformation of the financial system (the Sandbox Law) was passed with a double purpose. On the one hand, to contribute by providing suitable instruments to the financial authorities to appropriately fulfil their purposes within the current digital context and, on the other hand, to facilitate the innovation process in such a highly competitive international technology environment.

The core element to this regulatory framework is the sandbox, or controlled testing area, as a set of provisions safeguarding the controlled and limited testing of a project that can provide technology-based innovations applicable to the financial system.

The controlled testing area is governed by a protocol-law scheme. The regulatory framework applied to the controlled testing area  is  formed by the provisions established in the regulations – that establishes the general regime, including rights and obligations – and by a test protocol containing the specific regime for each test and which will be approved by the authorities in charge of following up the tests and the project owners.

How to Access the Sandbox

The Sandbox Law envisages two annual cohorts (in March and September) for sponsors to request their access to the controlled testing area. The period for each cohort is published on the website of the Secretaría General del Tesoro y Financiación Internacional (Secretariat of the Treasury and International Financing). The interested parties must submit their request within the period via the website virtual office of the SGTFI, attaching an explanatory report in accordance with Article 6 of Law 7/2020.

Status of the Accepted Projects

The controlled testing area is divided in the following stages:

  • Submission of applications: the interested party can submit the request via the website of the Treasury during the 30 working days of the period established by resolution of the Treasury, which will be published on its website.
  • Prior assessment: once the period for acceptance of applications concludes, the supervisory authorities have one month, which may be extended an additional month, to assess the applications submitted. The Treasury will publish the list of projects provisionally accepted on its website.
  • Protocol negotiation: the sponsors of the projects accepted and the supervisory authorities will commence the negotiation of the protocol, which details the conditions under which the tests are to be carried out, such as their duration, the participants, the aspects to be tested, the possible risks and their mitigation or the guarantees provided, and the supporting documentation.
  • Testing period: the informed consent of the participants must be collected before commencing the tests and, where applicable, the guarantees must be activated. During the tests, the  sponsors will provide the documentation established in the protocol and the CNMV will monitor their development.

Once the tests conclude, the sponsors will draft a result assessment report and the CNMV will publish a report on the conclusions reached.

Contact us:

Please contact us if you have any queries regarding the procedure or the Sandbox entry requirements, or if you wish to make any enquiry regarding the project before submitting a request by sending an email to the Fintech Innovation hub at fintech@cnmv.es

Sandbox: Status of the Projects

Projects in which CNMV is the Competent Authority:

Cohort Promoter Project Project description Status Findings document
One Renta 4 Banco, S.A. Renta 4 Gestora SGIIC, S.A. Allfunds Bank, S.A.U. Allfunds Blockchain, S.L.U. Onyze Digital Assets, S.L. Issuance and custody of tokenized shares A platform that uses distributed ledger technology for the issue, subscription and reimbursement of tokenised units of an investment fund, along with the infrastructure for the custody of the cryptographic keys of said units. The net asset value is published daily and the CNMV has a monitoring mode from which it has access to information regarding the issue and activity Completed informe
One Sociedad de Bolsas, S. A. Market Place Platform for issuing and placing tokenised equity loans with the intervention of an Investment Firm, using distributed ledger technology Completed informe
One Sunblock Urban Token S.L. Realfund A platform that tokenises a participating loan that aims to finance a virtual reality system that improves the marketing of real estate products. Such platform provides the technical and legal means to issue the token, payment of interest on the loan and repayment of the principal at the maturity of the loan Completed informe
Two Imantia Capital, SGIIC, S.A. Onyze Digital Assets, S.L. Creation of an investment vehicle in decentralized lending protocols Creation of a hedge fund that acquires stablecoins registered on public blockchains and earns returns by investing in decentralised lending protocols, based on a defined investment and risk management strategyCreation of an investment vehicle for decentralised lending protocols Completed informe
Three Securitize, Inc. Securitize Infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology that enables the issuance and trading of crypto-assets with MIFID II financial instrument status. It offers issuers certain services for the management of such digital financial instrument assets In tests  
Four Allfunds Bank S.A. NEXTGEN Multilateral trading system based on decentralized registry technology, in which shares of IICs type UCITs will be traded and the members of the market will be the trading companies In tests  
Four Renta 4 Banco, S.A. Grupo Lar Inversiones Inmobiliarias, S.A. Iobuilders Blockchain Tech & Ventures, S.L. Open Brick Platform based on decentralized registry technology for the issuance, negotiation and settlement of financial instruments focused on the real estate sector. In this market, the promoters of real estate projects will be the issuers of shares or bonds Pending start of tests  
Four Adventurees Global Group S.L. Platform based on decentralized registry technology for the issuance, negotiation and settlement of financial instruments issued by companies linked to any sector, especially aimed at small and medium-sized companies Pending start of tests  
Five DEVTEAM, S.L. Bit2me Security Tokens Exchange (STX) Platform for the issuance and trading of negotiable securities registered using DLT technology, aimed at start-ups  Pending start of tests
Five CRIPTOSASUN ENERGIA, S.L. Quantum Markets Platform that uses neuro-quantum technologies for the issuance and negotiation of negotiable securities  Pending start of tests
Five GRUPO FERNET INVERSIONES SL TOKN1 Platform for the issuance and negotiation of negotiable securities registered using DLT technology, aimed at projects in the e-sports field  Pending start of tests
Six MARKETS PROLIVE 360, SL. DIDIT Technological solution for the identification and verification of digital identity by incorporating user identification data into a wallet Accepted
Six GPT ADVISOR, S.L. GPTadvisor Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence to be used in the different phases of the provision of investment services Accepted
Seven Application submission period from March 1 to April 15, 2024