Spain's CNMV Blacklists Four Unauthorized Crypto and Investment Platforms

Spain's National Securities Market Commission, the CNMV, has identified four financial entities operating investment services in the country without the authorization required by law. The regulator named EXCHSEC, ZSYSC, GDLP and CMC GROUP MARKETS and warned the public to avoid dealing with them.

According to the CNMV, none of the four companies holds formal permission to manage funds or market financial instruments in Spain. "They are not registered in the corresponding registry of this Commission and, therefore, are not authorized to provide investment services or other activities subject to supervision," the regulator said.

Under Spanish law, any entity intending to intermediate capital on behalf of clients must first obtain state validation. This obligation stems from the principle of reserved activity set out in Law 6/2023 on Securities Markets and Investment Services, which restricts the provision of such services to entities that have passed through the appropriate registration process.

MiCA adds a second layer of scrutiny

The prohibition does not stop at national rules. It also draws on requirements under the European Union's MiCA Regulation on crypto-assets, whose transitional adaptation phase concluded in July 2026. That framework imposes mandatory licensing on any platform offering crypto-asset services within the bloc, closing off a period in which firms could operate under national exemptions while adapting to the new regime.

The action against EXCHSEC, ZSYSC, GDLP and CMC GROUP MARKETS follows a similar warning reported by CriptoNoticias in early October, when the CNMV flagged a platform operating under the names bitcoin-inform.com, ESTABLE COREXIS and BITCOIN-INFORM for infringing the same legal reserve of activity. Taken together, the two warnings point to a regulator actively working through a list of unlicensed operators targeting Spanish investors.

Tools for checking before investing

The CNMV has repeated its recommendation that investors verify the registration status of any firm before committing funds. It offers free verification channels, including direct phone confirmation and open-access databases published on its website, allowing the public to check whether a company appears in the official registry before engaging with it.

Authorities reiterated that commercial offers from intermediaries lacking the proper authorization should be rejected outright, regardless of how the services are marketed or what returns are promised.