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A DASP license is a formal government authorization granting a company the legal right to provide one or more digital asset services in a jurisdiction using this regulatory term.
What is a DASP license in terms of covered activities? Services typically covered include custody of digital assets on behalf of clients, buying or selling crypto for fiat currency, crypto-to-crypto trading, operating a digital asset exchange platform, advising clients on digital assets, discretionary portfolio management, token underwriting, and guaranteed or non-guaranteed token placement.
The DASP (Digital Asset Service Provider) designation originated in France, where the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) introduced the framework as part of the PACTE law in 2019. El Salvador later adopted the same terminology in its Digital Assets Issuance Law (LEAD), enacted in 2023, which established the Comisión Nacional de Activos Digitales (CNAD) as the supervising authority.
The DASP license serves two goals at once: it protects users and gives legitimate operators a clear legal pathway to market.
From a regulatory standpoint, DASP frameworks require companies to implement Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) controls, conduct Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedures, segregate client assets from company funds, demonstrate sound governance, and undergo ongoing supervision. Without these controls, crypto markets remain vulnerable to fraud, money laundering, and investor harm.
From an operator standpoint, a DASP license signals to users, banks, and institutional partners that your business meets a recognized compliance standard. This makes it easier to open business bank accounts, attract institutional clients, and access markets where regulators require prior licensing.
Any company whose core commercial activity includes delivering one or more digital asset services inside a DASP jurisdiction needs a DASP license.
That covers a wide range of business types. If you operate a centralized crypto exchange converting fiat to crypto or swapping digital assets, you need a DASP license. The same applies to companies that custody private keys for users, run digital asset portfolio management, provide crypto investment advice, underwrite or place token offerings, or manage trading platforms where third parties transact digital assets.
According to the CNAD in El Salvador, the DASP obligation extends to companies domiciled in El Salvador and foreign entities actively marketing services to Salvadoran users. The same extraterritorial logic applied under France’s AMF framework before MiCA replaced it. If you target users in a DASP jurisdiction, you need registration regardless of your company’s incorporation location.
Each jurisdiction has taken a distinct approach to digital asset licensing. Understanding the differences helps you identify the right market for your business model and budget.
El Salvador is currently the most accessible DASP jurisdiction for new applicants. The LEAD law, enacted in 2023, created a licensing framework with tax exemptions for registered DASPs on digital asset income, a government registration fee of USD 5,475, and a capped 20-business-day evaluation period for final applications. Binance, Tether, and B2BINPAY hold DASP authorizations from the CNAD as of 2025 and 2026. The 2025 amendments to El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law, driven by a USD 1.4 billion IMF loan agreement, made Bitcoin acceptance voluntary for merchants but left the DASP licensing framework and tax exemptions untouched.
Brazil uses the term VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) rather than DASP, but it functions as the country’s equivalent regulatory pathway for digital asset service providers. Brazil enacted its Virtual Assets Law (Law No. 14,478/2022) in December 2022, effective June 2023. In November 2025, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) published Resolutions 519, 520, and 521, effective February 2, 2026, creating a formal authorization and operational framework for VASPs, known locally as SPSAVs (Sociedades Prestadoras de Serviços de Ativos Virtuais). These rules require full asset segregation, independent audits from entities registered with Brazil’s CVM securities regulator, and mandatory AML/CFT controls. Existing operators have a 270-day window to apply, with a deadline of October 30, 2026.
Below is a side-by-side comparison of the two jurisdictions:
All three license types regulate the same broad category of businesses, but they operate under different legal frameworks and cover different geographic scopes. Getting this wrong could mean applying for the wrong license entirely.
The DASP designation is country-specific. A DASP license from El Salvador’s CNAD gives you legal standing to operate in El Salvador, not in Europe or Southeast Asia. A VASP license works the same way: it’s valid only in the country where it was issued, following FATF Recommendations that each government implements in its own way.
The CASP license under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation is the only framework that comes with passporting rights. A single CASP authorization granted by any one EU national authority lets you serve users across all 27 EU member states. As of late 2025, the EU saw a major market consolidation, going from over 11,000 registered VASPs down to 378 licensed CASPs under MiCA. France’s historical DASP framework was essentially the regulatory blueprint that fed into MiCA’s architecture.
Here is a direct breakdown of the three license types:
If your target market is outside the EU, particularly in Latin America or emerging economies, a DASP license from El Salvador is often the faster and lower-cost starting point. If you’re building for European users, the MiCA CASP path is your only compliant option.
DASP license requirements break down into three universal categories across every framework: AML/CFT controls, governance standards, and financial capacity.
In El Salvador, the CNAD requires applicants to comply with Articles 17 to 35 of the Regulation of Digital Asset Service Providers (RPSAD) and Article 20 of the LEAD law. The CNAD evaluates the applicant’s identity, planned service scope, management quality, and ability to meet operational obligations. Key requirements include appointing qualified management, maintaining sufficient human and technical resources, implementing a documented AML/CFT program, and demonstrating financial capacity. While the CNAD does not publish a fixed minimum capital figure, applicants should generally be prepared to show a capital base of around USD 70,000 or more depending on their services.
In Brazil, under Resolutions 519, 520, and 521 published in November 2025, VASP authorization from the BCB requires full asset segregation between company and client funds, independent audits from CVM-registered auditors, an AML/CFT program aligned with Travel Rule standards, structured governance documentation, and minimum paid-in capital of R$10.8 million to R$37.2 million (approximately USD 2 million to USD 7 million) depending on activity type. Brazil also added a biennial audit cycle through Normative Instruction No. 739, issued in 2026, which requires independent audits before any VASP can receive operational authorization.
The process varies by jurisdiction, but El Salvador’s CNAD runs the most transparent and publicly documented pathway for how to get a DASP license today.
Here are the six steps in the El Salvador DASP registration process, as defined by the CNAD:
For Brazil, the BCB is the sole regulatory authority for VASP authorization. You should prepare documentation covering financial capacity, governance structure, IT infrastructure adequacy, management qualifications, and AML/CFT readiness aligned with BCB Resolution 519. Foreign platforms operating in Brazil must either establish a local presence or transfer their Brazilian clients to a locally authorized SPSAV within the 270-day transition window.
DASP license cost varies considerably between jurisdictions, and the government fee is rarely the full picture.
In El Salvador, the CNAD charges a fixed registration fee of USD 5,475. The total cost of obtaining a DASP license, including legal fees, company setup, compliance documentation, and minimum capital, typically ranges from tens of thousands to low six figures depending on the firm and service scope.
In Brazil, the DASP license cost equivalent is built into the VASP authorization process and is substantially higher. Minimum capital requirements alone range from R$10.8 million to R$37.2 million (roughly USD 2 million to USD 7 million), before you add independent audit fees, legal structuring costs, and ongoing compliance expenditure.
The most accessible DASP license cost today remains the El Salvador CNAD registration. If you compare jurisdictions purely on entry cost, El Salvador is the only DASP market where a serious operator can get licensed without committing millions in capital upfront.
The DASP license timeline for El Salvador is among the fastest in regulated crypto jurisdictions. The CNAD’s formal evaluation window for a complete final application is capped at 20 business days. In practice, the end-to-end timeline from pre-registration to receiving your authorization certificate typically runs 3 to 6 months, including document preparation, pre-registration review, additional information requests, and final evaluation.
For Brazil, the BCB expects the authorization process for new VASPs to take up to 360 days from submission of a complete application. Existing operators have until October 30, 2026 to file under the transition period. The biggest cause of delays across all license types is application quality: incomplete governance documentation, missing AML program details, and underdeveloped financial disclosures often send applications back for revision.
Yes, there are DASP licenses for sale on the market. And for some founders, acquiring an existing licensed entity is a serious alternative to submitting a fresh application.
A ready-made DASP license typically refers to an existing licensed company that a buyer acquires through a structured M&A process. Rather than building an application from scratch, the buyer inherits the legal entity, its regulatory authorization, its compliance documentation, and in some cases its full operational infrastructure. This can compress a 3- to 12-month application window into a change-of-control process that runs 3 to 6 months, depending on the jurisdiction and how quickly the regulator reviews the new beneficial owners. Most regulators require prior written approval before any change of control on a licensed entity is finalized.
Platforms like Acquire.Fi list DASP licenses for sale alongside VASP, CASP, EMI, and other licensed entities across global jurisdictions. A CNAD-authorized El Salvador DASP entity has can have an asking price of around USD 400,000 for an operational entity. Acquire.Fi operates as a discreet matchmaker, connecting qualified buyers with sellers and coordinating the introduction process while each side’s advisors handle terms and regulatory filings.
Before pursuing a DASP license for sale, evaluate three things carefully. First, review the entity’s full regulatory history: a licensed company’s compliance track record travels with it through any ownership change, so past violations, unresolved regulatory queries, and historical enforcement actions all become your liability once the acquisition closes. Second, confirm the license scope actually matches your planned activities. A DASP license for sale covering only custody won’t work if you intend to run a full exchange. Third, check whether a mandatory fit-and-proper review applies to incoming beneficial owners and directors in the target jurisdiction, because it almost always does.
The decision between buying a DASP license for sale and applying fresh comes down to speed versus risk tolerance. A clean entity with a solid compliance history can save you months. A murky one isn’t worth the discount.
Your long-term positioning in digital asset markets depends on how seriously you take your regulatory foundation. A properly obtained DASP license, whether through a fresh application or a well-structured acquisition, gives you the legal standing to grow, partner, and operate at scale without existential compliance risk hanging over the business.
With deep roots in traditional finance and the digital asset industry, Acquire.Fi operates as a specialist M&A advisory firm. Coverage spans M&A, secondaries, OTC, and capital markets advisory across digital assets and frontier tech. Decades of combined experience across every stage of the deal lifecycle.
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