St. Vincent Virtual Assets Business Act to be published

The Virtual Assets Business Act of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was recently published by the Financial Services Authority.

The act regulates Virtual Assets Businesses incorporated in St. Vincent. According to this law, the following categories are subject to the regulation in St. Vincent & the Grenadines:

• Exchange between the virtual assets and fiat currency;
• Exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets;
• Transfer of virtual assets whether or not for value;
• Safekeeping and administration of virtual assets or instruments enabling control over virtual assets; or
• Participating in or provision of financial services related to an issue or sale of virtual assets.

The abovementioned businesses shall now be registered with the Financial Services Authority as the Virtual Assets Business and included into the special register maintained by the FSA. The Act is now published on the website of the FSA.

Additionally, the Act imposes some obligation for the registered businesses such as appointment of eligible auditor and submission of the audited accounts on the yearly basis.

The Virtual Assets Business Act was passed on 10th of May 2022 in order to keep with the global trend for regulation and to create a regulatory framework according to the St. Vincent Times.

On another note, just a few months later Seychelles has adopted similar Virtual Assets Act to regulate crypto-industry.