Licensed crypto exchanges in Georgia: the full NBG register and how to check it

“Is this exchange legal in Georgia?” has a precise answer, and it takes about two minutes to find. The National Bank of Georgia keeps a public register of every company allowed to provide crypto services in the country. If a company isn’t on it and isn’t a licensed bank or broker, it shouldn’t be offering crypto services in Georgia. This page explains what that registration means, shows the full register in a searchable table, and walks through how to check a desk, kiosk or app before you send it money.

What NBG registration actually means

Georgia regulates crypto through the Organic Law on the National Bank of Georgia, amended by Organic Law No 1790 of 9 September 2022 and in force since 1 January 2023. The law defines virtual assets and seven types of virtual asset services: exchange (including through kiosks), transfer, safekeeping, portfolio management, running a trading platform, lending, and ICO services. Anyone providing one of these “for the benefit of another person” is a VASPVASPVirtual Asset Service Provider — a crypto exchange, ATM operator or custodian. In Georgia every VASP must be registered with the National Bank (NBG)..

Article 52⁵ makes registration with the NBGNBGNational Bank of Georgia — the central bank. It supervises banks and, since 2023, crypto service providers (VASPs). mandatory and says only a registered VASP, or a financial institution authorised under its own sectoral law, may provide these services. Article 39¹ adds two rules that shape everything else: a virtual asset is not legal tender, and payments with virtual assets are prohibited except where the NBG allows them for VASP services. That is why a shop or developer in Georgia can’t take your USDT directly; more on that on our crypto regulation page.

The detailed rules come from NBG Order No. 94/04 of 13 June 2023, which took effect on 1 July 2023. It sets fit-and-proper tests for administrators and significant shareholders (including beneficial owners), requirements for offices, branches, kiosks and software, and an AMLAMLAnti-money-laundering rules. They are why an exchange or bank may ask where your money came from. policy with a risk assessment at the application stage. Providers already operating before 2023 had 90 days to apply.

Registration, not a licence

Georgian law speaks of registration, not a licence. Marketing pages, including those of firms that sell company setups, often say “VASP licence”. We use “licensed” in this page’s title because that’s how people search, but if a company tells you it holds “an NBG crypto licence”, what it should be able to show you is a registration number ending in -9404 and the NBG act confirming it.

What registered companies must do

Registered VASPs are “obliged persons” under Georgia’s anti-money-laundering law. In practice that means:

• KYCKYCKnow Your Customer: identity checks (passport, selfie, sometimes proof of address) that licensed services must run before you trade. when a business relationship starts and for single crypto transactions above about USD 1,000 / GEL 3,000 (thresholds as summarised by law firms; the article number we couldn’t verify against the law text);
• the travel rule: passing sender and recipient information with crypto transfers;
• keeping records for five years and reporting to the Financial Monitoring Service;
• since 1 January 2026, displaying the NBG act confirming registration at the head office, every branch and kiosk, and on the website and app (NBG Order 266/04).

Who doesn’t need to be on the register

Two groups provide crypto services legally without appearing on the VASP register. Commercial banks, microbanks, microfinance organisations and brokerage companies may offer exchange, transfer and safekeeping under their own licences: this is how TBC Bank sells crypto in its mobile app, with execution by Bybit Georgia (see banks and crypto in Georgia). And a private person trading P2PP2PPeer-to-peer: you buy crypto from another person and pay them directly (e.g. by TBC or Bank of Georgia transfer) while the platform holds their coins in escrow. solely with their own funds, without providing a service to others, doesn’t need to register.

The full register of licensed crypto exchanges: 43 companies

The table below mirrors the NBG register file, version dated 23.10.2026. Search by brand, legal name or number; the service codes show whether a company can exchange crypto for lari, run kiosks or hold your assets.

A few things the register tells you that marketing doesn’t:

• Brand and legal name often differ. Alltrust.me is Maverick Solution LLC (0010-9404), Bitcasa is IXI LLC (0032-9404), Bipayhi is Crossmint LLC (0038-9404), YXXY is Laonor LLC (0044-9404). Check both.
• Only four companies may run kiosks: Bitexchange (0004), Cryptomat (0005), Matio (0022) and PayBit Georgia (0033, Batumi). An ATM run by anyone else is a red flag; see our crypto ATM guide.
• Branches are listed by region. Alltrust.me has branches in Tbilisi, Adjara and Kvemo Kartli; Digital Currency has its head office and five branches in Adjara; Coinero has a branch in Sarpi on the Turkish border.
• One registration has been cancelled: Sher888 LLC (“Sherif crypto exchange”, 0009-9404), which the NBG had fined GEL 465,000 for AML breaches, including 528 transactions without proper records.

How to check a company in two minutes

What “not on the register” means for Binance, OKX, CEX.IO and others

Here the facts need to be stated carefully, because two different things get mixed up.

Binance, OKX, KuCoin, Kraken, Bitget, Gate, HTX, Coinbase, Crypto.com and CEX.IO are not on the NBG register. That means none of them is a Georgian VASP and none is supervised by the NBG. It does not, by itself, mean they are unavailable to people in Georgia. These are foreign platforms that accept Georgian residents cross-border from entities registered elsewhere, and several hold licences or registrations in other jurisdictions:

The NBG’s warning of 7 October 2025 says unregistered persons are prohibited from providing virtual asset services in Georgia and urges citizens not to use them. It names no exchanges and does not address foreign platforms serving Georgians from abroad. We are not aware of any published rule that penalises an individual for holding an account on a foreign exchange.

What changes in practice when you use an unregistered foreign platform:

• No Georgian supervisor. If funds are frozen or a dispute arises, the NBG can’t intervene. Your contract is with an entity abroad: KuCoin’s terms are governed by Turks and Caicos law, Bitget’s by Hong Kong law, and OKX and CEX.IO route customers outside their regional entities to companies in the Seychelles and Nevis respectively (most likely where Georgian residents land, though neither says so explicitly).
• Bank questions. Georgian banks may look harder at transfers linked to unregistered platforms and at P2P payments from strangers.
• Different protections. A MiCA licence protects EU customers of the EU entity; it doesn’t follow you to Georgia.

Many people here use a registered company for lari and a foreign exchange for trading. That is a reasonable split, as long as you understand which part is supervised where. Our comparison of crypto exchanges in Georgia shows how each one handles lari.

Red flags: how to spot an unregistered or risky desk

Most problems in Georgia don’t involve the big exchanges. They involve a Telegram contact, an “office” in a business centre or a website that looks official. Watch for:

• No registration number, or a number that doesn’t match the legal name and ID code on the register.
• “Licensed in Europe” with no Georgian registration. A foreign licence doesn’t allow a company to provide services in Georgia.
• Free Industrial Zone claims. The NBG explicitly says FIZ companies also need registration.
• Kiosks operated by a company not registered for kiosks.
• “No KYC, any amount.” Registered VASPs must identify customers; a desk that promises otherwise is either unregistered or breaking the rules.
• Look-alike domains. ESMA’s list of non-compliant entities includes “HTXcoin-az”, a domain imitating HTX. Type addresses yourself.
• Links to sanctioned platforms. The US Treasury re-designated Garantex and its successor Grinex on 14 August 2025. Steer clear of anyone offering to route funds through them.
• Guaranteed returns or “investment managers”. No exchange guarantees profit.

For the patterns we see most (fake P2P receipts, impersonation, investment schemes) read our guide to crypto scams in Georgia. If you’re planning to set up a crypto company yourself, the process is on our VASP registration page.

Where the registered companies fit in everyday use

Registration matters most when lari is involved, because that’s where your bank, your cash and Georgian law meet.

• Buying with a Georgian card or bank transfer: registered online exchanges like Cryptal (0002-9404) and WhiteBIT (0007-9404), or the crypto section of the TBC app.
• Cash: Cryptomat ATMs (0005-9404), exchange offices such as Alltrust.me, and PayBox terminals, which list five registered exchanges. See buying crypto with cash.
• Selling crypto for lari or cash: registered offices and OTC desks; our OTC guide explains how they price.
• Buying property or a car: convert at a registered VASP first, then pay in lari or dollars. Our guide to real estate and crypto in Georgia explains the compliant route.

Georgia’s approach has been noticed abroad: in December 2024 MONEYVAL upgraded the country’s rating on the FATF recommendation covering virtual asset providers from “partially” to “largely compliant”. For you, the practical upshot is simpler: the register is public, it’s updated regularly, and checking it before you hand over money is the single most effective habit you can build.