Jamaica Cracks Down on Unlicensed Crypto Firms

Jamaica's government has introduced legislation to regulate cryptocurrency and digital asset providers. The Virtual Assets Service Providers Act aims to establish a licensing and supervisory framework for virtual asset businesses, ensuring compliance with international anti-money laundering standards.

The bill defines a virtual asset service provider as any business that handles cryptocurrency or other digital assets on behalf of others as a commercial service. This includes exchanging crypto for regular money, transferring crypto between wallets or accounts, and holding or managing keys that control it.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Fayval Williams, explained that virtual asset service providers have the same anti-money laundering duties as banks, including verifying customer identities, monitoring transactions, reporting suspicious activity, and sharing sender and recipient information on transfers.

The bill requires anyone who wants to run a virtual asset business serving Jamaicans to hold a license from the Financial Services Commission (FSC), regardless of where in the world they are based. Operating without a license is considered a criminal offense.