Following positive notice from the Portuguese banking and securities market regulators, Bison Bank joint a limited number of 30 banking institutions in the EU to directly offer Crypto-Asset Services under the new legal framework, bridging traditional finance with the digital asset economy under a unified and sound regulatory base.
Lisbon, June 22, 2026 – Bison Bank has become the first bank in Portugal to operate directly as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) under the new European MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation, a strategic step that consolidates its position at the forefront of financial innovation. Bison Bank activity as CASP will be undertaken by merging its fully owned subsidiary, Bison Digital Assets (BDA), which has already been approved by the Bank of Portugal. The CASP move is another step of a pioneering journey that began in 2022 with the creation of BDA as the first Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in Portugal owned by a bank.
“We were pioneers three years ago when we realized the future of banking would involve integrating digital assets. Now, with a clear and solid European legal framework like MiCA, we are taking the natural step of fully integrating this area into the heart of the bank,” states António Henriques, CEO of Bison Bank. “The CASP and the merger is the realization of our vision to build the bank of the future: a single, regulated entity with the robustness of a bank, but with the agility and innovation of the crypto world.”
Bison Bank CASP license, together with the integration of BDA, which in 2025 served approximately 275 clients and handled a traded volume of €165 million, positions the bank to accelerate its on-chain strategy. The new CASP structure offers institutional clients simplified access to custody, exchange and advisory services for crypto-assets, under a bank-grade compliance and risk management framework. This solid foundation also allows the bank to accelerate the development of new products, such as the recently launched EUB and USB E-money tokens (stablecoins), and future real-world asset (RWA) tokenization solutions.
Confidence in this strategy is backed by the bank’s financial strength. Bison Bank closed 2025 with a recurring net profit of €5 million (doubling the previous year) and a CET1 capital ratio of 38.5%, one of the highest in the European banking sector. The bank’s leadership in the digital space has been validated by international awards, including the “Portugal’s Best for Digital Assets” distinction at the Euromoney Global Private Banking Awards 2026.