BVI Law and Practice Contributed by: Andrew Jowett, Patrick Gill and Jack Igglesden, Appleby
2.2 Crypto-Asset Regulatory Frameworks The primary legal question is which regulatory regime an instrument or product falls under: an “investment” governed by the BVI’s Securities and Investment Busi- ness Act (2020 revised edition) (as amended) (SIBA); or a “virtual asset” captured by the VASP Act, a com- bination of both, or neither. That determination drives the applicable rules and regulatory treatment; both regimes can apply if an instrument or product exhibits features of each, while certain items may be excluded altogether. SIBA sets out an exhaustive list of financial instru- ments that constitute “investments”. Cryptographic tokens are not expressly included in that list. However, whether the characteristics of a token or other digi- tal asset could nevertheless render it an “investment” under SIBA is a fact-specific enquiry dependent on the unique functionalities exhibited by the token or asset. If a token qualifies as an “investment” under SIBA, reference should be made to certain regulated activities (requiring a SIBA licence), including (among others) dealing in, or arranging deals in, “invest- ments”, custody, administration of “investments” and operating an “investment exchange”. Service provid- ers engaging in such activities may be required to be licensed under SIBA. Under the VASP Act, activities conducted as a busi- ness on behalf of another person involving “virtual assets”, including (but not limited to) exchange ser- vices, transfers, safekeeping or administration of vir- tual assets, operating a virtual assets exchange and custody of virtual assets, would be considered regu- lated activities. Where a person carries on any of these activities in or from within the BVI, that person must be registered as a VASP. In the BVI FSC’s Guidance on the Regulation of Virtual Assets in the Virgin Islands (July 2020), the BVI FSC clarified that “virtual assets and virtual assets-related products used as a means of payment for goods and services which provide the purchaser with an ability to only purchase goods and services would not be captured by financial services legislation”. However, “where a virtual asset product or service provides a benefit or right beyond a medium of exchange, it may be captured under SIBA”. Although not exhaustive,
1.2.6 Industry and Trade Bodies See 1.1.5 Industry and Trade Bodies .
2. Regulation 2.1 Regulators and International Alignment The Commission is the regulatory authority responsi- ble for financial services business (including the VASP Act) in the BVI. The Commission’s principal functions include super- vising, monitoring and regulating financial services businesses carried on in or from within the BVI, moni- toring the effectiveness of financial services legislation and making recommendations to the BVI Cabinet on amendments to financial services legislation. The BVI Financial Investigation Agency (FIA) is the BVI’s financial intelligence unit (FIU) and one of the key competent authorities responsible for prevent- ing, detecting, and analysing financial crime. It plays a central role in the BVI’s AML/CFT/CPF framework and fulfils the requirements of FATF Recommendation 29, which mandates that every jurisdiction maintain an independent FIU. The FIA is also the reporting author- ity of the BVI and, as a result, receives all suspicious activity reports (SARs)/suspicious transaction reports (STRs) pertaining to ML/TF/PF. The BVI aligns its AML/CFT framework with FATF Rec- ommendations. Since June 2025, the BVI has made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and has since taken steps to improve its AML/CFT regime by strengthening fit and proper checks, ensur- ing basic information on legal persons is available to the general public, and raising awareness of how legal persons can be misused for money laundering and terrorist financing. In the CFATF’s report published in October 2025, the CFATF indicated that the BVI has made significant progress in addressing the technical compliance deficiencies identified in its Mutual Evalu- ation, with 40 Recommendations now rated “compli- ant” or “largely compliant”.
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