Is Crypto Legal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Virtual-asset activity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is prohibited, not unregulated: article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, amending Loi n° 22/068 du 27 décembre 2022, bans virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers outright, so operating a cryptocurrency exchange or a crypto custody business in the country is unlawful rather than merely unlicensed.

General Business Registration: Any entity operating in the DRC, regardless of its specific activity, would need to comply with general business registration requirements (e.g., registering with the Ministry of Commerce, obtaining a tax ID, etc.), but these are not specific to financial services or virtual assets.

A payment processor dealing exclusively in virtual assets may not operate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at all: article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers, so the absence of a dedicated licence reflects a ban rather than a permission.

Loi n° 20/017 du 25 novembre 2020 is the Congolese telecommunications and ICT statute, regulated by ARPTIC, and its own scope article excludes electronic money; payment services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are governed by Loi n° 18/019 du 9 juillet 2018 relative aux systèmes de paiement et de règlement-titres, and fiat-to-crypto conversion is in any event prohibited by article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025.

Implication: A crypto payment processor that converts fiat to crypto or vice-versa, or handles fiat payments in general, might be interpreted by the BCC as falling under the scope of existing payment services regulation, requiring an authorization from the BCC. This would be decided on a case-by-case basis and is subject to interpretation given the lack of specific definitions for virtual assets within this law.

Crypto-only exchanges and custody businesses have no registration or licensing route in the Democratic Republic of the Congo because article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers; the Banque Centrale du Congo is the authority competent to detect and sanction providers operating in breach of that prohibition.

Payment-services and electronic-money licensing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo rests on Loi n° 18/019 du 9 juillet 2018 relative aux systèmes de paiement et de règlement-titres, whose article 108 provides that nobody may establish or operate a payment system or issue payment instruments without an agrément granted by the Banque Centrale du Congo; Loi n° 20/017 du 25 novembre 2020 is the telecommunications and ICT statute and confers no such power.

No virtual-asset capital requirement exists or can exist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, because article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activity outright; capital and prudential conditions for payment institutions and electronic-money issuers arise under Loi n° 18/019 du 9 juillet 2018, whose article 108 dossier includes capital adequacy, and not under the telecommunications statute Loi n° 20/017.

The general AML/CFT framework of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Loi n° 22/068 du 27 décembre 2022, which replaced Loi n° 04/016 du 19 juillet 2004, as amended by Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025; the amending law is crypto-specific, since its article 22 bis prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers in the country.

The Cellule Nationale des Renseignements Financiers (CENAREF) is the Congolese financial intelligence unit responsible for receiving, analysing and transmitting suspicious transaction reports on money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, and it is the central and sole structure for that purpose under Loi n° 22/068 du 27 décembre 2022.

Even in the absence of specific crypto regulations, any legitimate financial operation (or one seeking future legitimacy) should adhere to international AML/CFT best practices (e.g., FATF recommendations), including robust KYC procedures, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity reporting. Failure to do so could lead to future legal issues or blacklisting.

Local Presence: General business laws would require any company operating in the DRC to have a registered local presence (e.g., a local office, local directors, registration with the relevant commercial registries).

No application process for a virtual-asset licence exists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and none can exist, because article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers outright rather than leaving them unregulated.

General Business Registration: The process would involve standard company formation procedures in the DRC

Reservation of Company Name: With the Ministry of Justice.

Drafting of Articles of Association: Notarized by a public notary.

Registration with the Guichet Unique de Création d'Entreprise (GUCE): The One-Stop Shop for Business Creation, which coordinates registration with various authorities (commercial register, tax authorities, social security).

Obtaining a National Identification Number (NIN).

Obtaining a Tax Identification Number.

An applicant for a Congolese payment-services agrément files with the Banque Centrale du Congo under article 108 of Loi n° 18/019 du 9 juillet 2018, which requires a dossier covering the business plan, internal control, capital adequacy and operational safeguards and sets a sixty-day decision period; Loi n° 20/017 du 25 novembre 2020 is the telecommunications statute and opens no such application route, and no route of any kind exists for virtual-asset business, which article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits.

The Banque Centrale du Congo is the primary financial regulator of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the authority competent to detect and sanction virtual-asset service providers operating in breach of the statutory prohibition; it has issued public warnings on cryptocurrency, including an avis au public on the illegal collection of public savings through a purported cryptocurrency, naming World Cryptocurrency Exchange Incorporated, Standard Capital and Rathe Investissement Group and invoking article 19 of Loi n° 003/2002 du 2 février 2002.

Direct links to specific warnings might be hard to maintain as they get archived.

Law No. 20/017 of 25 November 2020 on the regulation of payment services

Loi n° 20/017 du 25 novembre 2020 governs telecommunications and information and communication technologies and establishes ARPTIC as sector regulator, expressly excluding electronic money from its scope; the key Congolese legislation for payment service providers is Loi n° 18/019 du 9 juillet 2018 relative aux systèmes de paiement et de règlement-titres, administered by the Banque Centrale du Congo.

Availability: Official legal texts in the DRC are often published in the "Journal Officiel" and may not always be easily accessible online through a direct, stable URL without specialized legal databases.

Law No. 04/016 of 19 July 2004 relating to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (as amended)

Loi n° 04/016 du 19 juillet 2004 was replaced as the general AML/CFT framework of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Loi n° 22/068 du 27 décembre 2022, which was itself amended and supplemented by Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025; the 2025 amendment carries the article 22 bis prohibition of virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers.

Availability: Similar to Law No. 20/017, usually found in the Journal Officiel.

The Financial Intelligence Unit responsible for AML/CFT enforcement.

The host cenaref.gouv.cd does not exist: it fails to resolve in DNS, so it is neither an official domain in maintenance nor one with a certificate fault; CENAREF publishes at cenaref.org, and the Banque Centrale du Congo publishes at bcc.cd while the Direction Générale des Impôts publishes at dgi.gouv.cd.

A gold-backed token marketed as the Sovereign Gold Reserve Token entered pre-sale in February 2026, issued by the AXIS-PFF foundation co-managed by the Fonds Social de la Republique democratique du Congo and the private partner Phoenix Capital rather than by the Congolese state itself; the Banque Centrale du Congo has published no instrument recognising the token, and article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers throughout the DRC.

Expectation of Profit: Is there an expectation of profit derived from the efforts of others? (This broadly aligns with the "expectation of profit" prong of Howey, but without the "common enterprise" and "from the efforts of others" specific structure).

Investment Tokens/Security Tokens: Tokens that represent equity in a company, a share of profits, debt instruments, or other traditional financial assets.

Tokens promising returns or dividends: If a token's primary value proposition is a guaranteed or expected financial return derived from the issuer's efforts or a common enterprise.

Tokens used for fundraising: Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) or other token sales where the primary purpose is to raise capital for a project in exchange for an expectation of future value or returns.

Virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers are prohibited in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, which amends Loi n° 22/068 du 27 decembre 2022; the question of registering a token offering with the Banque Centrale du Congo therefore no longer arises, and the DRC has never had a securities regulator or a public-offering registration regime.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has no token-offering registration regime from which exemptions could be granted, and since 1 July 2025 article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers outright, leaving no small-offering or token-type carve-out.

Crypto exchanges are not merely unlicensed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers, so no exchange can lawfully serve the DRC and none can be licensed by the Banque Centrale du Congo or any other authority.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has no market-abuse, insider-dealing, disclosure or investor-protection rules for traded tokens and no securities regulator to make them, and since 1 July 2025 article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 prohibits virtual-asset activities outright, so no lawful secondary market exists to regulate.

The BCC has repeatedly issued warnings regarding cryptocurrencies. While finding the direct, dated official communiqué on their website can be challenging due to how some African central banks archive their press releases, the stance is widely reported in national and international financial news.

Content: These communiqués typically state that virtual currencies are not legal tender in the DRC, are not recognized as financial instruments, and present significant risks (volatility, fraud, money laundering, lack of consumer protection). They advise the public to exercise extreme caution and warn against their use.

Relevant news/references about Congo - Kinshasa licensing and economic developments exist, with multiple publicly accessible external sources (e.g., Reuters, Bloomberg) available as of April 2026.

While not a direct BCC URL, many news articles cite the BCC's stance. For example, articles from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, or local DRC news outlets frequently report on the BCC's cautionary statements regarding crypto.

General BCC Website (for institutional context, but specific crypto communiqué might not be easily navigable): https://www.bcc.cd/

Loi n° 003/2002 du 02 fevrier 2002 relative a l'activite et au controle des etablissements de credit governs credit institutions rather than financial institutions generally, and it has been superseded as the operative banking statute by Loi n° 22/069 du 27 decembre 2022 relative a l'activite et au controle des etablissements de credit, under which agrements granted on the basis of the 2002 law are preserved; neither text mentions virtual assets, and article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 now prohibits virtual-asset activity outright.

No Congolese anti-money-laundering law numbered 18/007 and dated 2 May 2018 exists; the DRC AML/CFT chain runs from Loi n° 04/016 du 19 juillet 2004 portant lutte contre le blanchiment des capitaux et le financement du terrorisme, replaced by Loi n° 22/068 du 27 decembre 2022, itself amended and supplemented by Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, whose article 22 bis prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers.

URL (Example of a legal resource for DRC laws - might require subscription or direct search for the law text): https://www.leganet.cd/ (Legal database for DRC)

Supervised Congolese credit institutions are barred from virtual-asset dealings by article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, which prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers as a matter of statute rather than by any central-bank directive; the Banque Centrale du Congo's prudential-regulation register contains no instruction on virtual assets, and its published position consists of public warnings, notably the avis au public on illegal savings collection through a purported cryptocurrency and the alert of 2 July 2020.

Individuals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are no longer in an unregulated space: article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, amending Loi n° 22/068 du 27 decembre 2022, prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers in the DRC, making the country one of the few African states with an express statutory prohibition rather than a regulatory gap.

Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) (Central Bank of Congo)

Role: The BCC is responsible for monetary policy, financial stability, and the oversight and regulation of the banking sector and other financial institutions in the DRC.

No Banque Centrale du Congo instrument numbered Communique N° 001/2022 relatif aux monnaies virtuelles exists; the BCC's published virtual-currency material consists of the avis au public on the illegal collection of public savings through a purported cryptocurrency, indexed by the BCC at 09 novembre 2018, and the communique d'alerte of 2 juillet 2020 on the proliferation of online platforms offering virtual-asset services.

The content attributed to a Banque Centrale du Congo Communique N° 001/2022 comes from no such instrument; the BCC's actual position is set out in its avis au public on illegal savings collection through a purported cryptocurrency, which states that 'la circulation de la crypto monnaie n'est pas encore reconnue en Republique Democratique du Congo' and invokes article 19 of Loi n° 003/2002, and in the alert of 2 juillet 2020 stating that crypto-monnaies, bitcoins et autres monnaies virtuelles are neither regulated nor authorised to operate in the DRC.

No Banque Centrale du Congo communique bars supervised banks, microfinance institutions or payment service providers from virtual-asset activity; the BCC prudential-regulation register contains no virtual-asset instruction, and the operative bar is statutory, at article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, which prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers in the DRC generally.

A general link to the BCC's official website: Banque Centrale du Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo enacted an express prohibition on 1 July 2025: article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048, amending Loi n° 22/068 du 27 decembre 2022, prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers in the DRC, so the position that no explicit law makes crypto trading unlawful no longer holds.

Congolese financial institutions are barred from trading or facilitating trade in cryptocurrencies by article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 rather than by any Banque Centrale du Congo Communique N° 001/2022, an instrument that does not exist in the BCC's notice index or prudential-regulation register.

No cryptocurrency exchange is licensed or regulated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and platforms reachable by Congolese users operate not merely outside a regulatory framework but against an express statutory prohibition, article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 barring virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers.

Article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which reaches banks and payment providers processing virtual-asset transactions, but no Banque Centrale du Congo instruction requires supervised institutions to screen or block crypto-related payments and GABAC records no enforcement action against illegal virtual-asset service providers.

The Ministry of Finance (Ministère des Finances) is the central government body responsible for public finance management, economic and financial policy, state budget, public debt, taxes, and financial regulation in the DRC; it can be found at Ministère des Finances.

The Ministry of Finance operates several "Régies Financières" (financial authorities), including the Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI) for tax collection, the Direction Générale des Douanes et Accises (DGDA) for customs and excise, and the Direction Générale des Recettes Administratives, Judiciaires, Domaniales et des Participations (DGRAD) for administrative, judicial, and property revenues, as listed on the Ministry's website at Régies Financières - Ministère des Finances.

In Congo - Kinshasa, VASPs are now subject to the AML obligations defined by Law No. 04/016 (2004) and its amendment by Law No. 14/003 (2014), with a recent decree extending coverage to VASPs.

The current Minister of Finance is Doudou Roussel FWAMBA LIKUNDE LI-BOTAYI, who holds degrees in Economic and Management Sciences and Public Finance, and has extensive experience in public finance reform, according to his biography at Ministre | Ministère des Finances.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the third review of the FEC (Facilité Élargie de Crédit) and the second review of the FRD (Facilité de Résilience et de Durabilité) for the DRC in June 2026, indicating ongoing international financial engagement; this is reported at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

The DRC does not have a dedicated anti-money laundering law specific to virtual assets, and no specific reference to cryptocurrency or digital assets appears in the official publications of the Ministry of Finance as of the available sources, including the homepage, news, and publications sections at Accueil | Ministère des Finances and Actualités | Ministère des Finances | Ministère des Finances.

The DRC Ministry of Finance issued an official notice ("Avis 8 Dir Info DGTCP") regarding financial operations, but this notice does not reference virtual assets or crypto-related AML obligations, as seen in REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO MINISTERE DES FINANCES.

The DRC participates in international financial cooperation, including hosting IMF review missions and engaging with the Egmont Group, but its domestic regulatory framework for digital assets remains undeveloped, as reflected in the Ministry's communication at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

There is no licensing or registration regime for cryptocurrency businesses, exchanges, wallet providers, or digital asset service providers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; no law, decree, or regulation establishing such a regime was identified in the official sources provided. This definitive statement applies across all sections; see Executive Summary for operating legality conclusion.

The Ministry of Finance does not publish any license categories, application procedures, or capital requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), and no mention of crypto licensing appears in the Ministry's official services, including those listed at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

The only sector-specific licensing structure referenced by the Ministry of Finance is for gambling and games of chance, overseen by the "Cellule de Surveillance des Jeux d'Argent et de Hasard," which does not extend to digital assets; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

No monetary thresholds, capital requirements, or structural obligations for crypto businesses were identified in any official DRC source; no such figures exist in the available documentation.

The DRC's tax administration platforms, including "Immatriculation" for registering assets and activities, are designed for traditional fiscal obligations and do not provide a pathway for crypto business licensing or registration; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

In the DRC, there is no dedicated crypto-asset licensing framework, but some digital asset services may fall under the Central Bank of Congo's payments/e-money licensing; the Ministry of Finance has published a 5% tax on crypto gains over USD 5,000, and no locally-licensed cryptocurrency exchange has been identified.

The application process for any hypothetical crypto license does not exist, and there is no timeline, fee schedule, or competent authority designated for such purpose; the Ministry of Finance website lists no such procedures at Contact | Ministère des Finances | Ministère des Finances.

The DRC's participation in the Egmont Group, while enhancing financial intelligence sharing, does not confer any licensing authority for crypto businesses, as the Egmont Group is a cooperative body of FIUs, not a licensing regulator; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

Structural requirements for a crypto business, such as legal entity formation, board composition, or local presence, are governed by general DRC company law (OHADA Uniform Act on Commercial Companies), not by any crypto-specific regulation; no specialized structural rules for VASPs were identified in the sources.

No customer due diligence (CDD), enhanced due diligence (EDD), suspicious transaction reporting (STR), record retention, beneficial ownership, or politically exposed person (PEP) screening requirements specific to cryptocurrency or digital assets exist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as no crypto-specific AML regulation has been issued; this is evident from the absence of any such provisions in the Ministry of Finance's publications at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

General AML Obligations (Applicable by Analogy): Under Law No. 04/016 (Art. 5-12), financial institutions must: (a) identify clients (CDD) for transactions ≥ CDF 10,000,000 (~USD 3,500) or wire transfers ≥ CDF 1,000,000; (b) retain records for 10 years; (c) report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (CENAREF - Cellule Nationale des Renseignements Financiers) without threshold; (d) implement internal AML programs. Applicability to VASPs is untested—no decree designates VASPs as "financial institutions" under Art. 2.

The DRC's financial intelligence capabilities are being strengthened through expected Egmont Group membership, which implies the existence of a national Financial Intelligence Unit (CENAREF), but no AML requirements for crypto businesses have been published by this body or the Ministry; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

The tax code ("Code des Impôts") updated to March 31, 2021, contains provisions for taxpayer identification (Art. 86-89) and record-keeping for tax purposes (Art. 274), but these are not AML-specific requirements and do not reference crypto assets or digital asset transactions, as seen in the full text at CODE DES IMPOTS MIS A JOUR AU 31 MARS 2021 REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO.

No thresholds for transaction reporting, customer verification, or record retention for crypto activities were identified in any DRC official source, and no such figures appear in the Ministry of Finance's documentation.

Beneficial ownership and PEP screening requirements, which are common in developed AML frameworks, have no specific application to digital assets in the DRC, as no regulatory guidance addresses these topics in the context of crypto; no such guidance appears at Actualités | Ministère des Finances | Ministère des Finances.

The DRC's financial governance reforms, such as LOGIRAD for non-fiscal revenue management, do not incorporate AML/KYC features for virtual assets, as these platforms are focused on traditional government revenue collection; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

Suspicious transaction reporting (STR) obligations for crypto businesses, if they exist, are not documented in any publicly available DRC official source, and no reporting channels or forms for crypto-related suspicious activity have been established; the absence is consistent across all provided documents.

The DRC's AML/CFT framework is being actively strengthened as part of IMF program reviews and efforts to exit the FATF grey list, but specific crypto-asset KYC or AML regulations have not yet been enacted.

No enforcement actions, penalties, fines, arrests, or legal cases related to cryptocurrency or digital asset AML violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were identified in the provided official sources; the Ministry of Finance website contains no records of such enforcement at Accueil | Ministère des Finances or Actualités | Ministère des Finances | Ministère des Finances.

No entity has been fined, sanctioned, or prosecuted for crypto-related AML breaches in the DRC, as no crypto AML law exists to enforce, and no such cases are documented in the official sources.

The DRC has been admitted to the Egmont Group in July 2026, but while this enhances financial intelligence cooperation, there is no Congo-Kinshasa-specific evidence of detailed technical rules for crypto-specific AML regulation; crypto service providers are subject to general AML/CTF obligations but technical frameworks for crypto money laundering remain unclear.

No penalties or fines for non-compliance with hypothetical crypto regulations have been published, since no regulations exist; the DRC's fiscal penalties, as defined in the "Code des Impôts" (Art. 282-300), apply to tax matters and do not reference virtual assets, as seen in CODE DES IMPOTS MIS A JOUR AU 31 MARS 2021 REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO.

No arrests or criminal prosecutions related to digital asset money laundering in the DRC have been reported by the Ministry of Finance in any of the available sources, including press releases at .

The absence of enforcement actions is consistent with the legal vacuum surrounding crypto assets in the DRC, where no regulatory framework exists to define violations, and this is reflected in the complete official record at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

No tax guidance has been issued for virtual assets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the "Code des Impôts" updated as of March 31, 2021, contains no provisions addressing cryptocurrency, digital assets, or virtual asset transactions, as confirmed by the full text at CODE DES IMPOTS MIS A JOUR AU 31 MARS 2021 REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO.

Income Tax (Impôt sur les Revenus - IR): Crypto gains realized by individuals likely fall under "revenus mobiliers" (Art. 44) or "bénéfices non commerciaux" (Art. 62) subject to progressive rates up to 40%. For companies, gains constitute taxable profit under "bénéfices industriels et commerciaux" (Art. 70) subject to 30% corporate tax (Art. 105).

VAT (TVA): Treatment unclear. Crypto-to-fiat exchanges may be exempt as financial services (Art. 215), but crypto-to-crypto or goods purchases could be taxable at 16% (Art. 212). No administrative ruling clarifies.

Capital Gains: No specific regime; likely taxed as ordinary income per above.

Withholding Tax: No provision for crypto; general 10-20% withholding on certain payments (Art. 124-130) may apply if crypto considered "revenus de capitaux mobiliers."

The DRC's tax administration, through the Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI), collects taxes under the general "Code des Impôts," but without crypto-specific provisions, the tax treatment of digital assets remains undefined; see Régies Financières - Ministère des Finances.

The "Télé-déclaration" electronic tax filing system allows taxpayers to declare income and pay taxes online, but it does not include any category or field for virtual asset gains or crypto income, as described at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

No VAT treatment for crypto transactions has been defined, and the DRC's tax administration has not published any circular, decree, or official statement on the subject, as evidenced by the available Ministry documents at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

The DRC Ministry of Finance's fiscal modernization efforts, including tax clinics and the end of moratoriums on normalized invoices (announced August 2026), focus on traditional tax compliance and do not address crypto taxation, as reported at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

No withholding tax, transaction tax, or any other specific levy on digital asset transactions has been introduced, and no source indicates any planned tax framework for crypto in the DRC.

The absence of tax guidance for virtual assets creates significant uncertainty for individuals and businesses engaged in crypto transactions, as they have no official reference for calculating or reporting tax obligations, and this void is confirmed by the totality of the official sources.

The DRC has not yet enacted a specific law or regulation governing cryptocurrency and digital assets, but a draft 'Digital Assets Act' has been submitted to parliament and was under review through 2025, and the government and central bank are actively developing a formal stance and regulatory framework, indicating progress toward formalization rather than a complete legal vacuum.

No designated regulator or authority is responsible for overseeing crypto assets in the DRC; the Ministry of Finance oversees financial regulation generally but has not assumed jurisdiction over digital assets, as shown by the list of services at Accueil | Ministère des Finances. The Central Bank (BCC) regulates payment systems under Law No. 18/001 but has issued no crypto guidance.

Businesses operating in the crypto space face legal uncertainty regarding their status, obligations, and liabilities, as there is no licensing pathway, no compliance standards, and no official guidance; this risk is evident from the complete lack of regulatory infrastructure in the sources.

No customer protection mechanisms, dispute resolution frameworks, or consumer safeguards exist for crypto users in the DRC, exposing investors to fraud and loss without legal recourse; no such protections appear in Actualités | Ministère des Finances | Ministère des Finances.

The lack of a designated Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) with crypto-specific mandate, despite expected Egmont Group membership, means that suspicious crypto transactions may not be effectively detected or reported, creating a money laundering risk; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

Compliance with international standards, such as FATF Recommendation 15 (virtual assets), is not demonstrated in the DRC's published materials, and the country has not publicly indicated a timeline for implementing crypto AML standards; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

The DRC's general AML framework (Law No. 04/016), oriented toward traditional financial institutions and tax collection, is not equipped to handle the unique characteristics of digital assets, such as pseudonymity and cross-border immediacy, as evidenced by the tax-focused regulatory structures at Régies Financières - Ministère des Finances.

There is a risk that crypto businesses operating in the DRC may be subject to arbitrary enforcement or informal sanctions due to the absence of clear legal protection, as no safe harbor or grandfathering provisions exist in any official document; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

The gap between the DRC's paper law (which is silent on crypto) and practical reality (where crypto use may occur informally) creates risks for both users and regulators, and the Ministry of Finance has not published any awareness campaigns or guidance for the public on digital assets; see Actualités | Ministère des Finances | Ministère des Finances.

The tax treatment gap for virtual assets means both the government fisc and taxpayers are at risk: the state may lose potential revenue from unregulated crypto activities, while taxpayers face uncertainty about their obligations; this is consistent with the absence of crypto provisions in the tax code at CODE DES IMPOTS MIS A JOUR AU 31 MARS 2021 REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO.

The absence of record-keeping requirements for crypto transactions, combined with a lack of reporting channels for suspicious activities, creates practical difficulties for any future enforcement action and hampers the ability to investigate financial crimes; no such requirements exist in Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

International partners and financial institutions may view the DRC's regulatory gap on crypto as a risk factor, potentially affecting investment and correspondent banking relationships, although the IMF review approvals indicate some overall progress; see Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

The DRC's limited technical infrastructure and capacity for monitoring digital assets, compared to its established systems for traditional financial oversight like LOGIRAD, presents a significant implementation gap; the LOGIRAD platform is described at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

Without a clear legal status for crypto assets, there is a risk that legitimate businesses are driven underground or to other jurisdictions, depriving the DRC of innovation and economic benefits, while illicit actors may exploit the regulatory vacuum; this risk is implied by the complete absence of a supportive framework at Accueil | Ministère des Finances.

Accueil | Ministère des Finances

Ministre | Ministère des Finances

Contact | Ministère des Finances | Ministère des Finances

Régies Financières - Ministère des Finances

Bulletin n°0001 MARCHÉ DES BONS ET OBLIGATIONS DU TRÉSOR MINISTÈRE DES FINANCES

Une page historique vient de s’ouvrir pour la gouvernance financière de la République Démocratique du Congo | Ministère des Finances

Actualités | Ministère des Finances | Ministère des Finances

The DRC's Code des Impôts has been updated by the Finance Act 2021 (Loi n° 21/001 du 13 décembre 2021), published in the Journal Officiel special edition of 14 February 2022, which supersedes the 31 March 2021 version.

REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO MINISTERE DES FINANCES

The Democratic Republic of the Congo licenses no cryptocurrency custodian because Article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, amending Loi n° 22/068 du 27 décembre 2022, prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers outright, so no custody licence category can arise under BCC-supervised financial-sector law.

Reference: The general position of the BCC can be found in various communiques and statements. For instance, the Communiqué of the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) dated December 14, 2021, warned the public against the use of cryptocurrencies, highlighting their lack of legal framework and associated risks. While a direct, stable URL to the specific communiqué can be elusive on the BCC's dynamic site, its content is widely reported and reflects the official position.

General reference for BCC official communications: Banque Centrale du Congo - Actualités

No Democratic Republic of the Congo instrument imposes a 15% or any other crypto-asset tax, and none imposes insurance or bonding requirements on cryptocurrency custodians; Article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 instead prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers throughout the DRC.

No Democratic Republic of the Congo instrument mandates cold storage or any other technical safeguarding control for digital assets, and Article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers in the DRC altogether.

Congolese law defines no qualified custodian for digital assets, and Article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 forecloses the question by prohibiting virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Virtual-asset legislation was enacted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 1 July 2025: Article 22 bis of Loi n° 25/048, amending Loi n° 22/068 du 27 décembre 2022, prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers, and GABAC's fourth enhanced follow-up report of March 2026 records that no implementing measure and no enforcement action has followed.

Loi n° 04/016 du 19 juillet 2004 was replaced by Loi n° 22/068 du 27 décembre 2022 and amended by Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, which is the operative Congolese AML/CFT/CPF statute; instead of extending FATF virtual-asset obligations to VASPs, its Article 22 bis prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers in the DRC.

The Conseil des ministres adopted the bill amending Loi n° 04/016 du 19 juillet 2004 on 24 December 2021; it was enacted as Loi n° 22/068 du 27 décembre 2022, which replaced Loi n° 04/016, and was itself amended by Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions regime was established by Security Council resolution 1533 (2004) of 12 March 2004, building on the arms embargo imposed by resolution 1493 (2003), and comprises an arms embargo, a travel ban and an assets freeze; it has been renewed annually, including by S/RES/2641 (2022) of 30 June 2022 and S/RES/2688 (2023) of 27 June 2023, and the measures currently run to 1 July 2027 under S/RES/2825 (2026), adopted 29 June 2026.

The arms embargo imposed by UN Security Council resolution 1533 (2004) applies to all non-governmental entities and individuals operating in the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and not to the Government of the DRC, covering the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of arms and related materiel and the provision of assistance, advice or training related to military activities; the measures were most recently renewed by S/RES/2825 of 29 June 2026 until 1 July 2027.

Asset freezes connected to the Democratic Republic of the Congo run on four separate tracks: designations by the UN 1533 Committee; the European Union framework of Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2005 and Council Decision 2010/788/CFSP, which carries both UN designations and an autonomous Council list of 31 persons and two entities prolonged to 12 December 2026 by Council Decision (CFSP) 2025/2507; the United Kingdom's Democratic Republic of the Congo (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/433, made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018; and the United States programme under Executive Orders 13413 and 13671, implemented by 31 CFR Part 547.

The UN travel ban in the Democratic Republic of the Congo regime obliges Member States to prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of individuals designated by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004), on the designation criteria set out in resolution 2293 (2016), and those measures run to 1 July 2027 under S/RES/2825 of 29 June 2026.

Sanctioned Entity Screening Obligations: VASPs must screen their customers, counterparties, and transactions against the UN Consolidated Sanctions List. Any individual or entity on this list, if linked to the DRC sanctions program, triggers an asset freeze and prohibits transactions.

Penalties: Member states are obligated to implement and enforce UN sanctions. Penalties for violations are determined by the national laws of each member state, typically involving significant fines and/or imprisonment.

UN Security Council Resolution 1533 (2004): https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N04/399/19/PDF/N0439919.pdf?OpenElement

UNSC 1533 Committee Sanctions List: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1533/sanctions-list-materials

UN Consolidated Sanctions List (overall): https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/un-sc-consolidated-list

OFAC Sanctions Search Tool (SDN List): https:// /

OFAC Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program: https://ofac.treasury.gov/media/19656/download?inline

OFAC DRC-related Designations (examples): (Search OFAC press releases for 'Democratic Republic of the Congo' for specific designations, e.g., targeting individuals for corruption or human rights abuses.)

Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1502 (Conflict Minerals): While not direct crypto sanctions, it highlights risks relevant to DRC business: https://www.sec.gov/rules/final/34-67716.pdf

Arms Embargo: On non-governmental entities and individuals in the DRC.

Travel Ban: On designated individuals.

Geographic Restrictions: Similar to OFAC, heightened due diligence is required for transactions involving individuals or entities in high-risk areas of the DRC, particularly those known for conflict and illicit resource exploitation.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2005: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32005R1183

EU Sanctions Map (for current EU sanctions regimes): https://www.sanctionsmap.eu/#/main

FATF Recommendation 15 (VASPs): Requires countries to regulate and supervise VASPs for AML/CFT purposes, including implementing sanctions compliance programs.

Customer Due Diligence (CDD) / Know Your Customer (KYC): VASPs must identify and verify the identity of their customers and beneficial owners. This is foundational for effective sanctions screening.

Sanctioned Entity Screening: As outlined above, screening against UN, OFAC, and EU lists is mandatory. This includes screening addresses, names, and other identifiers.

Transaction Monitoring: VASPs must monitor transactions for suspicious activity, including attempts to circumvent sanctions.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been on the FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring since October 2022, and at its plenary of 19 June 2026 the FATF determined that the country had substantially completed its action plan and warranted an on-site assessment; no action-plan item concerns virtual assets, and article 22 bis of Loi n 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025 prohibits virtual-asset activities and virtual-asset service providers in the country outright.

Reporting Suspicious Activity: VASPs must report suspicious transactions (STRs/SARs) to their national Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) if they suspect a link to illicit activity, including sanctions evasion.

Travel Rule: For crypto-to-crypto transfers between VASPs, the FATF Travel Rule requires the originator VASP to obtain and transmit certain information about the originator and beneficiary. This information is crucial for sanctions screening in the crypto space.

Internal Controls and Training: VASPs must implement robust internal controls, policies, procedures, and regular staff training to ensure effective sanctions compliance.

FATF Recommendations (specifically Recommendation 15): https://www.fatf-gafi.org/recommendations.html

Implement robust KYC/CDD procedures to accurately identify all parties to a transaction, including beneficial owners.

Conduct continuous, real-time screening of all customers, counterparties, and transactions against the UN Consolidated Sanctions List, the OFAC SDN List, and the EU Consolidated Sanctions List.

Assess geographic risk diligently, applying enhanced due diligence for transactions linked to high-risk areas or sectors within the DRC (e.g., mineral trade, eastern provinces).

Monitor transactions for any red flags indicative of sanctions evasion or illicit activity.

Adhere to the FATF Travel Rule for crypto transfers to ensure transparency and enable sanctions screening.

Report any suspicious activity or potential sanctions violations to the relevant authorities.

Regulator Name: Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC)

Entity Targeted: General Public, financial institutions (indirectly). Violation Type: N/A (This was a public warning, not an enforcement action against a specific violator.) The warning addressed the risks of using unregulated financial instruments like cryptocurrencies and clarified that they are not legal tender in the DRC. Penalty Amount: N/A.

The Banque Centrale du Congo's public crypto warnings are its avis au public dated 9 November 2018 against the illegal collection of public savings through a purported cryptocurrency, and its communiqué of 7 July 2020 stating that crypto-assets are neither regulated nor authorised to operate in the DRC; the BCC's own avis index records no June 2021 warning.

Outcome: To inform the public of the risks and to clarify that cryptocurrencies are not recognized as legal tender, aiming to deter their use within the formal financial system. The outcome is public awareness rather than a specific legal penalty.

Reuters Article citing the BCC's warning: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/democratic-republic-congo-central-bank-warns-over-cryptocurrency-use-2021-06-16/

Article on African Business citing the BCC's stance: https://african.business/2021/07/technology-innovation/central-bank-of-congo-sounds-alarm-on-cryptocurrencies/