Crypto-funded debit card in 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.

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.

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).

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.

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

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

No Banque Centrale du Congo instrument numbered Règlement n° 004/2018 du 28 mars 2018 exists; authorisation of payment service providers and electronic money issuers 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 articles 73, 74 and 108 vest the agrément power in the Banque Centrale du Congo, implemented by BCC Instruction n° 24 on electronic money and electronic money institutions.

Minimum capital requirements.

Regulator: Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC).

Congolese anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing obligations arise under Loi n° 22/068 du 27 decembre 2022 as amended by Loi n° 25/048 du 1er juillet 2025, with CENAREF as the financial intelligence unit; article 22 bis of the 2025 amending law goes beyond reporting and makes the conduct itself an offence, punishing conversion of virtual assets into any currency quoted by the Banque Centrale du Congo with a fine of up to three times the amount converted.

Regulator Name: Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC)

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.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been on the FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring since 21 October 2022, and at its plenary of 19 June 2026 the FATF made an initial determination that the DRC has substantially completed its action plan and warrants an on-site assessment before any delisting.