CRYPTO LICENSING IN LITHUANIA.
Lithuania is the busiest EU entry point for crypto licensing, but the ground shifted hard. At its 2022 peak it hosted 800-plus registered virtual-asset providers, many of them shell companies set up purely to reach EU banking rails. In November 2022 the country raised the registered-capital floor from €2,500 to €125,000, and the 2023–24 cleanup pushed most of those entities out. Now the Bank of Lithuania runs full MiCA CASP authorisation — the volume reputation is real, the easy-registration reputation is not.
- MiCA CASP capital floor: €50k / €125k / €150k by service class, or ¼ of fixed overheads if higher.
- Lithuania raised its VASP capital floor to €125,000 in November 2022 (up from €2,500).
- 800+ VASPs registered at the 2022 peak; most were deregistered in the 2023–24 cleanup.
- Across the EU, under 18% of previously registered VASPs had obtained full MiCA authorisation by mid-2026.
WHO TO USE HERE.
Ranked on the CLBR rubric, filtered to firms with documented Lithuania coverage.
WHAT YOU ACTUALLY PAY FOR.
Under MiCA, minimum own funds are set by service class (Annex IV): €50,000 (Class 1 — reception/execution/advice), €125,000 (Class 2 — exchange, operating a platform), €150,000 (Class 3 — custody), and always at least a quarter of the prior year's fixed overheads. Lithuania already applied a €125,000 floor to VASPs from November 2022, so applicants here are used to that bar.
Capital is the visible floor (€50k–€150k own funds by class), but it rarely dominates the bill. What does: a substantive local AML function and MLRO, governance and ICT/DORA build-out the Bank of Lithuania will actually test, and the legal work to pass a supervisor that has just spent two years removing paper companies. Ask for a fixed quote against your exact service class — a custody-plus-exchange CASP is a different number from an advice-only one.
Compare firmsLithuania's cleanup is the point most guides skip. The regulator has seen every shell-company template, so a thin application with no real local substance is now a fast rejection, not a slow approval. If you were counting on a light-touch VASP register, that jurisdiction no longer exists here. Miss the 1 July 2026 MiCA transition deadline and an old national registration stops giving you any EU right to operate.
How much does a Lithuanian crypto licence cost?
Capital sets the floor — €50,000, €125,000 or €150,000 in own funds depending on your MiCA service class, or a quarter of fixed overheads if higher. The larger cost is usually AML, ICT/DORA and legal build-out. Get a fixed quote against your exact service class.
Is my old Lithuanian VASP registration still valid?
Only during transition. National registrations lapse for EU purposes on 1 July 2026 unless you have obtained MiCA CASP authorisation. Given the 2023–24 cleanup, treat re-authorisation as a fresh, substantive application, not a rollover.
Is Lithuania still an easy place to get a crypto licence?
No. The €125,000 capital floor since 2022 and the mass deregistration that followed ended the easy-register era. The Bank of Lithuania now expects real local substance and a complete MiCA file.
Sources: ESMA — MiCA minimum capital requirements (Annex IV) · MiCA Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 — EUR-Lex. Regimes change — confirm current rules with the regulator.