Crypto license services / Jurisdictions
Crypto license services / Jurisdictions
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Price: $25,000
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Price: $6,500
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Price: $12,500
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Price: $9,900
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Price: 250,000 CHF
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Crypto license services / Legal & Structuring
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Crypto License
Fact Checked by: Maksim Gasanbekov
Overview
Setting up a New Zealand business that uses cryptocurrency for payments, conversion or transfers starts with classifying the services it provides. Gofaizen & Sherle helps crypto payment providers assess whether they need to register as a financial service provider (FSP) in New Zealand, prepare the application, and identify any separate authorization their activities require.
Positive Signs
Warning Signs
Use these signs to guide your assessment.
Classify services by what they do with customer assets.
New Zealand has no general cryptocurrency license or dedicated payment service provider or e-money license. The FSPR lists registered FSPs and their services. Registration carries no endorsement.
Subject to exceptions, you must register if you serve New Zealand clients above the applicable threshold, provide financial services as an AML/CFT reporting entity, or provide services that trigger a separate statutory licensing or registration requirement.
Taking deposits or accepting other repayable funds outside a genuine trust arrangement may trigger debt-security or deposit-taking rules. Tokens representing debt, equity, interests in managed investment products or derivatives can also bring additional rules into scope. Regulated retail offers may require licensing and disclosure. Wholesale or offshore exceptions leave the rules against misleading or deceptive conduct in place.
For crypto projects, explore our ready-made crypto companies and crypto licensing services.
We trace who receives, holds and transfers the funds.
Service Classification
Company Structure
AML/CFT Policies
Application Support
Payment and Transfer Setup Support
Price on request
The quote lists professional fees, official fees, levies and third-party charges separately.
Classify the Services
You describe the services. Gofaizen & Sherle identifies the applicable requirements.
Set Up the Company and Controls
You approve the structure and arrange signed consents. For a New Zealand company, appoint at least one director who lives in New Zealand or lives in Australia and currently directs an Australian-incorporated company. Gofaizen & Sherle helps prepare company documents and applicable AML/CFT policies.
Prepare the Filing
Gofaizen & Sherle helps prepare the application. The Companies Office reviews the FSPR application before payment. If you apply only for licensed services, obtain authorization for at least one before the Companies Office completes FSPR registration.
Answer Follow-up
You supply any information the authority requests. Gofaizen & Sherle helps you respond. Launch once you meet the applicable conditions.
Services and Token Rights
Share your business plan or service description and the agreements that explain what customers receive.
Clients and Markets
Identify customer locations, retail or wholesale status and where you intend to operate.
Company and Ownership
Provide an ownership chart, director details and proposed registered addresses.
Funds, Technology and Controls
Share fiat and crypto flow diagrams, custody arrangements, platform contracts and existing AML/CFT policies.
Project assessment
Structuring & Classification
Documentation
Implementation support
Set your launch date after checking which reviews your business needs.
Company Incorporation
You have 20 working days after reserving the name to complete incorporation, including filing signed consents.
FSPR Checks
Required criminal-history checks take 2–5 working days after payment.
Separate Decisions
Separate authorizations and bank reviews follow their own schedules.
New Zealand Cryptocurrency Regulatory Framework
The Companies Office handles incorporation under the Companies Act 1993 and administers FSPR under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008. Incorporation creates the company. FSPR registration records the financial services it provides. An exchange that converts cryptocurrency for customers may provide a value transfer service and should check whether it must register.
Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009, reporting entities must build their written AML/CFT program around the risks of their own operations. For a payment or exchange business, that means looking at how customers fund transactions, where the money goes and which transfers warrant closer scrutiny.
FMA assesses token rights and platform activities under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. An exchange that lists tokens qualifying as financial products may need a market operator license. Accepting repayable customer funds outside a genuine trust arrangement may also trigger deposit-taking rules overseen by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
| Law | What It Means for the Business |
|---|---|
| Companies Act 1993 | New Zealand companies need a qualifying director and physical registered addresses. |
| Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 | Assess FSPR eligibility and retail dispute scheme requirements. |
| Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 | Reporting entities must implement the required controls. |
| Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 | Check product classification, licensing and disclosure where applicable. |
Plan for annual filings and applicable controls.
The reporting entity remains responsible for outsourced compliance work. Missed controls and unlicensed activities can trigger enforcement.
Inland Revenue (IRD) treats cryptoassets as property. Income from selling, trading or exchanging them is generally taxable. Most companies pay income tax at 28% of taxable profit. Buying and selling qualifying cryptoassets is excluded from goods and services tax (GST). Check the treatment of services, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and mining separately.
The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) requires in-scope reporting crypto-asset service providers with a New Zealand connection to collect reportable data from April 1, 2026, and retain records for seven years.
The overseas FSPR route excludes providers with only offshore clients or, for overseas providers, only New Zealand wholesale clients.
If you must join a dispute resolution scheme (DRS), record membership on the FSPR within ten working days of registration.
Check local rules before marketing to or accepting customers abroad.
Confirm who holds customer funds or keys, which company contracts with customers and whether the payment or token creates a repayable balance or investment right. Give the bank or payment partner a flow-of-funds diagram, ownership information and relevant registration or license records.
No. New Zealand has no general cryptocurrency license. Depending on the services it offers, a crypto payment business may need to register as FSP and comply with AML/CFT requirements. A separate license may be required for certain activities, such as operating a financial product market.
No. FSPR registration confers no overseas authorization.
The 28% rate applies to most companies. Individuals follow separate income tax rules.
Check the token’s rights and the services performed. Licensing is assessed individually.
Retail financial services generally require membership in an approved scheme, subject to statutory exceptions. The scheme handles customer complaints.
A director who lives in Australia can qualify. Provide the Australian Company Number (ACN) of the company they direct.
The total varies with review and follow-up. Unfinished online applications expire 30 working days after you start them.
No. The bank decides after its own due diligence.
DIA guidance excludes transfers without another virtual asset service provider from wire-transfer rules. CDD can still apply to business relationships, occasional transactions of NZD 1,000 or more, linked transactions or suspicion.
The auditor must be appropriately qualified and independent of developing the risk assessment or establishing, implementing or maintaining the AML program.
In-scope providers must report by June 30, 2027, for April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2027.
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Client Testimonials
Gofaizen & Sherle has successfully implemented all the tasks related to the settlement of legal part (company formation and VASP license application) of our exchange whitebit.com.
Vladimir Nosov
CEO WhiteBIT
Case study
Services Provided: End-to-end support with company share transfers in Lithuania and the USA (Montana), corporate account opening, AML/KYC policy development, regulatory compliance for FNTT and FinCEN, MICA licensing advisory, HR recruitment for C-level and AML roles, and payroll accounting services.
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