Portugal just got its first crypto bank

Portugal just became the first country in its part of Europe to put a crypto bank inside the regulated banking system. It's Sunday, 2 August. Thirty degrees. Air quality: 30 (Good). Here's what you need to know.

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PORTUGAL JUST GOT ITS FIRST FULLY REGULATED CRYPTO BANK

Bison Bank, a Lisbon-based private bank, has become the first bank in Portugal authorised to operate directly as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider under the European Union's new crypto rulebook, known as MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets). That puts it in a small club of roughly thirty banks across the whole EU cleared to offer crypto services under the framework.

The plain-English version: until now, buying, holding or trading crypto in Portugal meant going through exchanges and specialist platforms that sat outside the traditional banking system. Bison Bank can now offer crypto custody, exchange and advisory services directly, the same way it offers a current account or a mortgage, under the same bank-grade compliance and oversight. Crypto stops being a thing you do off to the side and becomes a thing a regulated Portuguese bank does on your behalf.

This did not come out of nowhere. Bison started building here in 2022, when its subsidiary Bison Digital Assets became the first bank-owned crypto operator licensed by the Bank of Portugal. By 2025 that arm was serving around 275 mostly institutional and high-net-worth clients and had handled roughly €165 million in trading. The new authorisation folds that operation into the bank itself. In May, Bison also launched Portugal's first bank-issued stablecoins: EUB, pegged to the euro, and USB, pegged to the US dollar. A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to hold a fixed value against a normal currency, and issuing one under MiCA means meeting strict reserve and transparency rules.

For the large number of internationally mobile residents in and around Lisbon, many of whom arrived during the years when Portugal was one of Europe's friendliest places for crypto, this is a meaningful shift. It signals that crypto here is moving out of the grey zone and into the same regulated, audited environment as the rest of your money. That cuts both ways. It means stronger consumer protection and clearer rules. It also means the same scrutiny, reporting and compliance that come with any regulated financial product, so the days of treating crypto as entirely separate from the taxman and the banking system are ending.

It is worth being clear about what this is not. It is not investment advice, and it does not change the fact that crypto remains volatile and that Portugal's 2023 tax changes ended the era of tax-free gains for anyone holding under a year. What it changes is the plumbing: where crypto sits, who is accountable for it, and how normal it looks to the system around it.

Bison closed 2025 with €5 million in recurring profit, double the year before, and one of the highest capital-strength ratios in European banking, so this is a solidly capitalised institution making the move rather than a start-up chasing a trend.

Bottom line: Portugal has been one of Europe's crypto capitals for years without making much noise about it. Now it has a regulated bank to match, and that tells you which direction this is heading: not away from crypto, but toward treating it like everything else the bank touches.

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Practice Portuguese — The Learning Platform That Actually Teaches the Portuguese You Hear

Most language apps teach Brazilian Portuguese. This one doesn't. Practice Portuguese is 100% European Portuguese, built by Rui (from Portugal) and Joel (from Canada, who moved here over a decade ago and couldn't find a single decent resource for learning the language people actually speak in Lisbon).

The platform covers complete beginner through to advanced (A1 to B2) with a structured path of over 100 units. But the reason it works for expats living here is the content around the lessons: hundreds of audio and video episodes recorded by native Portuguese speakers, with synced translations, filterable by level and topic. Grammar guides written by people who know exactly where English speakers get stuck. A verb conjugation trainer for the moments when you can't remember whether it's "estive" or "estava." Personalised flashcards that adapt to how you're actually performing. And a members forum where you can ask the questions your Portuguese teacher never had the time for.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

SALTA (MARQUÊS DE POMBAL)

A few minutes from the roundabout at Marquês de Pombal, down a side street you would otherwise walk past, Salta is doing some of the most interesting cooking in Lisbon right now, and the 2026 Michelin Guide has noticed. The idea is a collision that should not work and completely does: the flavours of Asia run headlong into those of Latin America. Sashimi and ceviche share a menu with tacos and some of the best steaks in the city.

The chef is Tomaz Salema Reis, who cooked for nine years in Sydney, including at the celebrated Mr. Wong, before coming home by way of the two-star Vila Joya in the Algarve. He runs the kitchen with complete creative freedom, and it shows. The dish everyone talks about is the soft-shell crab taco, where the sweetness of pineapple chutney meets the low, warm heat of gochujang mayonnaise, but the real pleasure is handing yourself over to one of the tasting menus and seeing where he takes you. There is a full vegan version, which is rare for cooking this ambitious.

The room is dark and low-lit, spread across three spaces, with a counter looking onto the kitchen and the cocktail station, where the drinks are built with the same care as the plates. It is a proper night out rather than a quick bite, and it takes bookings, including on a Sunday.

→ See the menu and find them here ←

Insider tip: sit at the counter if you can. Watching the kitchen and the bar work is half the experience, and it is where the staff are most likely to steer you toward whatever came in fresh that day.

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