Operator: Norwegian Block Exchange AS (Reg. No. 920 245 676)
Platform: NBX trading platform (nbx.com)
Version: 1.4
Effective date: 8. May 2026
These Operating Rules set out the conditions for admission, participation, order handling and trading, transparency, fees, settlement, suspension/delisting, record-keeping and supervisory access on the NBX trading platform. The rules apply to all participants and to all instruments admitted to trading on the NBX trading platform, including crypto-assets and, where applicable, e-money tokens (EMTs). They implement the requirements applicable to the operation of a trading platform under MiCA Article 76 and the related RTS Article 13.
These Operating Rules do not apply to off-venue transactions, including OTC, RFQ-based or instant execution services where NBX acts as principal and counterparty to the client (including QuickBuy). Such transactions are governed by the NBX Terms of Service and the Execution Policy – OTC, as applicable.
The definitions and matching logic set out in §4 are normative and apply only to instruments and transactions executed on the NBX trading platform, unless explicitly stated otherwise in these Rules.
Participation in the NBX trading platform and access to exchange services (crypto ↔ fiat and crypto ↔ crypto) are granted on the basis of objective, proportionate and non-discriminatory criteria. The same criteria are applied consistently to all clients within the same category.
Participation is available to clients who:
Access is limited to jurisdictions where NBX offers its services and is subject to applicable legal, regulatory and operational constraints.
Retail clients must:
Professional / institutional clients must, in addition to the above (where applicable):
3.3 Objective refusal or restriction criteria
NBX may refuse, restrict or terminate access where one or more of the following objective criteria are met:
The criteria set out in this Section are applied at onboarding and as part of ongoing monitoring where applicable. Decisions to refuse or restrict access are based on predefined criteria and are documented in NBX systems with the underlying rationale. This ensures that comparable clients are treated consistently and that decisions can be demonstrated as non-discriminatory to the competent authority upon request.
Professional participants may qualify for the Market Maker Program by meeting published, objective criteria (e.g., time-in-market, maximum spreads, minimum depth per instrument). Criteria and fees are identical for all qualified participants and are published on nbx.com.
NBX does not trade on its own account on the NBX trading platform. Off-venue principal transactions entered into by NBX outside the trading platform are not governed by these Operating Rules and are subject to separate contractual and execution arrangements.
This Section 4 applies only to orders submitted to and executed on the NBX trading platform order book.
RFQ-based, OTC or QuickBuy transactions are not order types supported by the NBX trading platform and are not governed by this Section.
Matching follows price–time priority:
Orders may be cancelled until they are matched. Order amendments are not supported; participants must cancel and place a new order. Executed trades are final except where NBX, in exceptional circumstances such as manifest error or system failure, corrects or cancels a trade. NBX will publish a notice of such action where required or appropriate.
NBX may apply volatility controls or temporary trading halts to maintain fair and orderly markets and will publish notices of halts and resumptions. The controls are based on predefined criteria and are applied in a non-discriminatory manner to support fair execution and orderly trading.
NBX has established systems, procedures and arrangements to ensure that its trading systems meet the requirements set out in MiCA Article 76(7):
(a) System resilience
The trading platform is operated on infrastructure designed to support resilience, availability and fault tolerance, with monitoring and incident response capabilities.
(b) Capacity and scalability
The trading system is designed to handle peak order and message volumes through scalable infrastructure and capacity management processes. System performance is monitored to support capacity management under normal and stressed conditions.
(c) Orderly trading under market stress
Controls are in place to maintain orderly trading under conditions of severe market stress, including volatility controls, temporary trading halts and operational procedures for incident handling.
(d) Order validation and rejection
Pre-trade controls ensure that orders exceeding predefined limits or containing erroneous parameters are rejected. This includes validation of price, volume and available balances prior to order acceptance.
(e) Testing of trading systems
The trading system and its controls are subject to periodic testing, including functional testing, performance testing and scenario-based validation where relevant, to support compliance with the requirements in points (a) to (d).
(f) Business continuity arrangementsNBX maintains business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements to ensure continuity of trading services in the event of system failure, including backup systems and defined recovery procedures.
(g) Prevention and detection of market abuse
Controls for the prevention and detection of market abuse are described in the “Market Abuse Surveillance Policy”.
(h) Prevention of misuse for financial crimeThe trading platform is integrated with NBX’s AML/CTF framework, including transaction monitoring and controls to prevent misuse of the platform for money laundering or terrorist financing.
NBX monitors execution quality on the NBX trading platform in order to assess whether the platform’s order handling and matching arrangements continue to support fair, orderly and efficient execution of client orders.
The monitoring applies only to orders submitted to and executed on the NBX trading platform order book. It does not apply to off-venue transactions, including OTC, RFQ-based or instant execution services where NBX acts as principal and counterparty to the client.
Methodology
For relevant executed orders, NBX may analyse execution quality by comparing the executed price with available order book data at or around the time of order entry.
The analysis may include, where relevant and available:
For buy orders, the relevant benchmark is normally the best available offer at the time of order entry. For sell orders, the relevant benchmark is normally the best available bid at the time of order entry. Where appropriate, NBX may also use mid-price, volume-weighted execution price or other relevant order book metrics to assess execution quality, particularly for larger orders or orders executed against multiple price levels.
The purpose of the analysis is not to guarantee execution at the best displayed price in all cases, since actual execution may be affected by order type, available liquidity, order size, time priority, market movement and matching sequence. The purpose is to identify whether the platform’s order handling, matching logic or market conditions result in material or systematic deviations requiring review.
Execution quality is monitored on an ongoing basis through order and trade records, system controls and market monitoring.
A formal review of execution quality metrics is performed periodically, normally at least annually, and additionally where relevant due to:
Potentially material or systematic deviations are reviewed by the Head of Trading or delegated trading personnel, with involvement from Risk & Compliance where relevant.
A deviation may be considered material or systematic where it:
Where the review identifies potential market abuse or attempted market abuse, the matter shall be handled in accordance with NBX’s Market Abuse Surveillance Policy.
Where material or systematic deviations are identified, NBX may take one or more of the following measures:
Execution quality reviews, findings and corrective measures are documented and retained in accordance with NBX’s record-keeping framework.
Availability and format. NBX makes pre-trade data (order book with aggregated depth) and post-trade data (price, volume and time) publicly available via UI and public APIs during trading hours, subject to maintenance, incidents and technical availability. Access is non-discriminatory and provided in machine-readable formats, and the data remain publicly available for at least two years. Real-time access is provided via the public API and UI on a non-discriminatory basis. The GUI displays recent history; the API provides broader access to post-trade history.
Historical datasets. The public API provides access to historical post-trade data in accordance with applicable transparency requirements. The GUI may show recent trade history and TradingView charts may be used to display historical price development for relevant markets.
The pre-trade and post-trade transparency arrangements described in this Section apply only to trading activity on the NBX trading platform. They do not apply to bilateral off-venue transactions, including OTC, RFQ-based or instant execution services such as QuickBuy.
Standard trading fees. Customers: 0.70% maker / 0.70% taker (all trading pairs).
MM Program fees. Market-maker rates and applicable qualification criteria are published on NBX’s Market Maker Program Terms page and form part of these Operating Rules by reference. These fees apply uniformly to all participants who meet the objective, published criteria, with no individual exclusivities.
Listing fees (admission to trading)
NBX applies a cost-based, non-discriminatory model for listing and admission to trading. Fees are based on the expected development, testing, legal, technical and operational assurance effort following due diligence, and are mapped to objective complexity classes, including whether the asset is on an already-supported network, requires custom work, or requires new chain or infrastructure support.
The same pricing logic and terms apply to comparable applications. NBX does not grant individual exclusive or preferential arrangements outside published objective criteria. Any rebates or co-funded integration arrangements are standardised, published where applicable, and made available on identical, objective conditions to eligible applicants.
Where material scope or complexity changes arise, NBX may issue an updated estimate or change order. Any material uplift is documented, applies non-discriminatorily using the same criteria for comparable applicants, and requires the applicant’s prior written confirmation before work proceeds.
NBX documents the class assessment, estimates, change orders and final effort for each application and can provide a summary to the applicant on request.
Changes. Fee changes are published on nbx.com and applied on a non-discriminatory basis to affected participants or participant categories. Where practicable, NBX provides advance notice before material changes take effect.
This Section applies to transactions concluded on the NBX trading platform.
Prohibited conduct. Participants shall not engage in abusive or manipulative practices (including spoofing, layering, wash trading, quote stuffing, dissemination of false/misleading signals).
Surveillance & controls. NBX maintains systems, procedures and arrangements to prevent/detect market abuse and to ensure orderly trading; controls include alert scenarios, thresholds and manual review.
Notification to authority. NBX informs the competent authority where required and without undue delay where NBX has reasonable grounds to suspect market abuse or attempted market abuse occurring on or through its systems.
Enforcement. NBX may warn, suspend or terminate access; material matters may be reported to authorities.
(This section implements MiCA Art. 76(7)(g), (8), (9)–(11) and is provided per RTS 2025/305 Art. 13(1)(l).)
Off-venue transactions, including OTC and RFQ-based execution models, are subject to separate monitoring and control arrangements proportionate to the characteristics of those services and are not governed by the trading rules in these Operating Rules.
NBX retains order- and trade-level records and relevant system logs for at least five years and will make information available to Finanstilsynet upon request in accordance with the procedure set out in Section 9.1, including order book access or order book record exports where relevant. Exports can be produced for a specified market and time period in commonly used structured formats, such as CSV or JSON. Order book records include order lifecycle events supported by the platform, including new, cancel, partial fill, full fill and rejects, each with a unique order identifier and timestamps. Record-keeping fields are maintained in accordance with NBX’s record-keeping framework and applicable record-keeping requirements, including Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1140. Records relating to off-venue services are maintained under separate service-specific arrangements and policies, including the Execution Policy – OTC and NBX’s record-keeping framework. Records supporting execution quality monitoring under Section 4.10, including relevant order book data, order lifecycle data, trade records, timestamps, review findings and corrective measures where applicable, are retained in accordance with NBX’s record-keeping framework and can be made available to the competent authority upon request.
Regulatory reporting capability and back-upNBX maintains arrangements, resources and back-up procedures designed to support the generation, storage and transmission of information and records required under MiCA and applicable record-keeping requirements. Such information is made available to the competent authority upon request without undue delay, taking into account the scope, complexity and urgency of the request.
NBX has established internal procedures to ensure timely, secure and controlled access to order data, order books and related records for the competent authority upon request.
NBX may amend these Operating Rules. Changes will be published on nbx.com and applied on a non-discriminatory basis to affected participants or participant categories. Where practicable, NBX will provide advance notice (e.g., 30 days) before material changes take effect.
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