The regulator in St Vincent and the Grenadines has put out a notice saying that companies must be regulated in order to provide cryptocurrency services if they are registered in the country.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) noted that companies providing a range of cryptocurrency-related activities must be regulated under the Virtual Assets Business Act 2022.
According to the regulator, that includes the following activities:
- Exchanging virtual assets for fiat currency;
- Exchanging one or more forms of virtual assets;
- Transferring virtual assets;
- Safekeeping or administering virtual assets or instruments enabling control over virtual assets;
- Participating in and providing financial services related to an issuer’s offer or sale of a virtual asset.
There is at least one CFD broker offering spot trading in crypto assets using a St Vincent and the Grenadines license, which would presumably be in breach of these rules.
The update comes after a warning that the FSA published on its website at the end of last month.
That post noted that there is currently no firm that has received approval to operate from the country with crypto approvals from the regulator.
It’s worth noting that the rules the regulator has issued would not include CFDs or other derivatives on crypto. Consequently, a firm offering a crypto CFD or perpetual future would not be breaching local rules, but a firm offering spot crypto would be.
