To use ISBE (Spain's blockchain services infrastructure), your company must be a legal entity in the European Economic Area, register on the portal with a legal-representative certificate, sign the Framework Agreement for Membership and choose a participation level. The ADM1010 v1.0 policy (Dec 16, 2025) provides for subscriptions of €500 to €5,000 a month.
Who can use ISBE
If you need the background first, start with what ISBE is. Access rules live in the policies ISBE publishes in its legal repository on GitHub. The membership policy, ECO1010 v1.0 of December 19, 2025, covers legal entities in the European Economic Area (EEA) and opens access to anyone who meets objective requirements, regardless of sector or size.
- Companies and public bodies. The template of the Framework Agreement for Membership (CMA in Spanish; FAM in ISBE's English version) accepts members governed by private or public law, and has a specific dispute rule for public administrations.
- Individuals, not as participants. Membership is for legal entities. An individual can be an end user of a participant's application; that relationship is the participant's responsibility, not ISBE's.
- End users, never billed by ISBE. The fees policy states they have no direct economic relationship with ISBE.
Two conditions apply to everyone. No entity operates on the network without passing KYB verification and holding a registered, valid DID. And there are no anonymous actors: every transaction and every deployment must be attributable to an identified participant.
As of October 16, 2026, the FAQ on redisbe.com still says the requirements for joining ISBE are being defined. What follows comes from the published policies and technical documentation, which do spell them out.
The five participation levels
The CMA alone is not enough: you sign it together with at least one Role Annex, which sets your level. An entity can hold several levels at once, although governance can limit combinations that would compromise the network's neutrality.
| Level | For whom | What it can do | What it cannot do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Entities that use services without running infrastructure | Use the Private Area, notarization, the Faucet and the no-code "Wizard" to deploy preconfigured templates | Run nodes or access the network through direct RPC |
| Observer | Regulators, supervisors and auditors | Read the full network state and the observability dashboards | Send transactions, deploy or take part in consensus |
| Developer | Entities that build applications | Deploy templates and approved custom contracts; access the network through BaaS, with RPC endpoints and API keys | Connect their own nodes to the main network |
| Execution Node Operator | Entities that want their own infrastructure | Everything a Developer can do, through its own execution node instead of BaaS | Take part in consensus |
| Consensus Node Operator | Operators of QBFT validators | Validate transactions and produce blocks | Deploy contracts or business applications |
For a company launching an application, the natural level is Developer: you use the network through BaaS, with no node of your own. The operator levels also require a technical review of your infrastructure (hardening and availability) by the Operations and Technology Committee. The fees policy provides performance-based compensation for consensus nodes and no direct payment for execution nodes.
What you need before you start
- A qualified legal-representative certificate. It is issued by a qualified trust service provider; in Spain, for example, FNMT-RCM, Camerfirma, ANF AC or Firmaprofesional. If your company already has a valid one, it works. If not, the onboarding guide refers you to ISBE's technical team for alternatives.
- Corporate documents for KYB: deeds and powers of attorney, under ECO1010.
- A representative with a LEAR credential. You don't need it beforehand: under ECO1010, ISBE issues this verifiable credential to the legal representative during onboarding. From then on, the INF1050 v1.0 policy requires every action before ISBE to go through a representative holding a valid LEAR credential, issued by an authorized issuer and never by the entity itself. It lasts up to 24 months, and renewal must be requested at least 30 calendar days in advance.
- A
did:isbeDID. You generate secp256k1 keys with theisbe-identity-did-gentool, derive the DID (did:isbe:uc-pre:…on PRE anddid:isbe:uc:…on PRO) and register it from the portal or through the API. The API does not hold private keys: if you lose yours, you lose control of the DID. - Access for your team. The administrator can enroll employees with a verifiable credential they keep in the ISBE Wallet app, and choose which modules each one uses (Faucet, Wizard, Helpdesk and so on).
Joining ISBE step by step
The onboarding guide on docs.redisbe.com, which presents itself as the process reference, summarizes it in six steps. Another page of the same documentation mentions nine; we follow the reference guide here.
- Register on the portal and sign the agreement. You log in with the certificate (PRE:
pre.portal.redisbe.com; PRO:portal.redisbe.com), confirm your email with a code, accept the annex for your chosen level, and the portal generates the CMA with your details. You sign it digitally with the same certificate. - Adapt your smart contract to the chosen deployment mode. We cover the technical side in how to deploy a smart contract on ISBE.
- Request the technical review from the Client Portal.
- Deployment to PRE, the pre-production environment, and testing.
- Deployment to PRO, the production environment. According to ISBE's documentation, its staff deploy on PRE and PRO; the ECO1020 policy specifies that the transaction is signed by your company's verified identity (DID) and executed by ISBE's Factory.
- Listing in the Commercial Services Catalog (CSC). Publishing your service there takes a separate request and a formal statement on licenses and the accuracy of the information.
ECO1010 timelines for joining:
- automatic validation of the certificate and email: 5 minutes or less;
- manual review, if needed: 2 business days or less;
- confirmation of membership and access: 24 hours or less after signing;
- average onboarding time with KYB (a policy indicator): 5 business days or less.
Approval is automatic for the Basic and Developer levels; a committee approves the others. If a request gets no answer, the policy treats it as denied. Approval of a custom contract is separate: 2 to 12 weeks depending on the conformity level, according to the technical documentation.
How much ISBE costs: ADM1010 v1.0 fees
There is no gas cost per transaction: on ISBE, gas only limits execution. What the policy provides for is a monthly subscription. The ADM1010 v1.0 policy of December 16, 2025, published in ISBE's legal repository on GitHub, sets three plans. All include the same services and differ only in transactions and price:
| Plan | Transactions per month | Monthly price |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 50,000 | €500 |
| Medium | 300,000 | €2,000 |
| Large | 1,000,000 | €5,000 |
If you exceed your plan's limit:
- each additional transaction costs €0.020;
- the system suggests how many to buy using a projection: transactions used ÷ days elapsed × days remaining;
- transactions you don't use in a month can roll over to the next; after that month, they expire;
- at the end of the period you are billed for total usage: the base plan plus any additional resources.
Three caveats before you budget.
- They can change. These are version 1.0 figures, which ISBE uploaded to its repository on October 7, 2026 and which are unchanged as of October 16. Under the CMA, the managing entity can change the policies unilaterally, with notice. Confirm them with ISBE.
- It is not public whether they already apply. There is no public information on whether these fees are being charged yet or since when, and the FAQ on redisbe.com does not mention prices: what it says is still being defined is the access requirements.
- Taxes and deployment mode. The policy does not say whether the amounts include taxes. And the technical documentation announces preferential pricing for deployment mode 1, but ADM1010 does not publish that difference.
What the subscription includes and what costs extra
According to ADM1010, every plan includes:
- Professional services: network operation (Bare and use-case networks), onboarding and KYB verification, a GDPR compliance channel, technical and governance approval testing, distribution of the ISBE client and reference smart contract implementations.
- SaaS: the private area, a block explorer, the Faucet, the Commercial Services Catalog, a smart contract library (the "Wizard") and transaction notarization and timestamping.
- PaaS: BaaS with RPC endpoints and APIs, access control, quota management and API keys.
Additional services are priced separately. This is the table in the PDF, read row by row:
| Additional service | Price |
|---|---|
| BaaS (per transaction) | €0.02 |
| Delegated node administration (per node) | €3,420.41 |
| Catalog listing (annual) | €6,000 |
| Notarization (per operation) | €10 |
| Timestamping (per operation) | €10 |
The table also lists annual monitoring, audit and reporting, but the PDF shows its amount as "20.0", with no unit or euro sign, so we don't rely on it. Delegated node administration does not state a billing period.
Example: what you would pay at your volume
An illustrative calculation with ADM1010 v1.0 prices, assuming billing works as the policy describes: plan plus additional transactions at €0.020.
| Transactions per month | Option | Calculation | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40,000 | Small | €500 | €500 |
| 80,000 | Small + 30,000 additional | €500 + 30,000 × €0.020 | €1,100 |
| 80,000 | Medium | €2,000 | €2,000 |
| 200,000 | Small + 150,000 additional | €500 + 150,000 × €0.020 | €3,500 |
| 200,000 | Medium | €2,000 | €2,000 |
At these prices, Small plus additional transactions is cheaper than Medium up to 125,000 transactions a month, and Medium plus additional transactions is cheaper than Large up to 450,000. This is arithmetic on the policy, not a quote. Your project costs come on top of the subscription: development, testing, preparing for approval (ADM1010 includes the approval test in the subscription, not an external audit like the one level A requires) and integration.
What onboarding does not solve
- KYC for your users. As a Developer, you are solely legally responsible for KYB, KYC and anti-money-laundering checks on your applications' users, and for keeping their records off-chain (ECO1010, rule 12).
- Personal data. Recording it on-chain or in smart contracts is prohibited: only hashes or anonymized identifiers.
- Regulation of the asset. MiCA and Spain's Law 6/2023 apply to the asset, not to the network. If your token is a transferable security, an ERIR and MiFID II come into play: the issuer must appoint, in the issuance document, the entity that keeps the register (Article 8.4 of Law 6/2023), and ISBE does not present itself as one. We explain it in Law 6/2023 and securities tokenization and MiCA vs MiFID II.
- DORA. If your use case falls under DORA, the CMA requires a DORA Addendum before it goes to production.
How Unknown Gravity approaches it
Unknown Gravity is a member of Alastria, the association that operates ISBE. We are not an ISBE node, operator or partner, and your company signs the agreement with ISBE. What we do is help you choose the participation level, check that your certificate and onboarding documents are in order, guide you through registering your DID, adapt your contracts to the deployment mode and prepare the technical review package. For the full technical picture, see our page on building on ISBE; if you are weighing Alastria, ISBE and EBSI, read how they differ.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to use ISBE?
The ADM1010 v1.0 policy of December 16, 2025 provides for a subscription of €500 a month (50,000 transactions), €2,000 (300,000) or €5,000 (1,000,000), plus €0.020 per additional transaction. There is no gas cost. These are version 1.0 figures: they can change and it is not public whether they are already being charged, so confirm them with ISBE.
Do I need my own node to use ISBE?
No. At the Developer level you use the network through BaaS, with RPC endpoints and API keys you generate on the portal. You only need a node if you choose the Execution Node Operator level, which requires a technical review of your infrastructure.
Can a company from outside the European Economic Area join?
The ECO1010 v1.0 membership policy covers legal entities in the EEA, and the CMA template requires the member to be incorporated in an EU or EEA state. If your company is based elsewhere, check with ISBE before you start.
What digital certificate do I need to sign up?
A qualified legal-representative certificate under eIDAS. In Spain, providers such as FNMT-RCM, Camerfirma, ANF AC and Firmaprofesional issue it. You use it to register and to sign the agreement on the portal.
How long does onboarding take?
ECO1010 sets minutes for automatic validation, up to 2 business days for manual review and 24 hours after signing to grant access; its target for onboarding with KYB is an average of 5 business days or less. If you deploy a custom contract, add approval time: 2 to 12 weeks.
Can I leave ISBE?
Yes. Under the CMA template, you can leave at any time with 15 calendar days' notice. The agreement runs for one year and renews automatically each year; to stop renewal, you must give three months' notice before it expires.
Sources
- ADM1010 v1.0 fees and compensation policy, Dec 16, 2025 (ISBE GitHub, in Spanish)
- ECO1010 v1.0 policy on joining and leaving the ISBE ecosystem, Dec 19, 2025 (ISBE GitHub)
- ECO1020 v1.0 policy on use cases and smart contracts (ISBE GitHub)
- INF1050 v1.0 policy on digital identities, credentials and access (ISBE GitHub)
- ISBE Framework Agreement for Membership template, Spanish version (ISBE GitHub)
- Onboarding process (docs.redisbe.com)
- Registration and access with a digital certificate (docs.redisbe.com)
- Access with verifiable credentials (docs.redisbe.com)
- Portal Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) (docs.redisbe.com)
- Registering your DID (docs.redisbe.com)
- Smart contract deployment modes (docs.redisbe.com)
- ISBE network technical parameters (docs.redisbe.com)
- ISBE FAQ (redisbe.com)
- Spain's Law 6/2023 on Securities Markets and Investment Services (BOE)
Framework verified as of October 16, 2026. Considering bringing your use case to ISBE? Talk to us.