Centralized exchange in Cameroon

This was true when written but is no longer. A legal framework exists: Reglement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 (in force 1 August 2022) introduced 'jetons numeriques' and 'actifs numeriques' into CEMAC market law (arts. 76 and 160), and the COSUMAF Reglement general du 23 mai 2023 (in force 24 May 2023) created the PSAN regime — exploitation d'une plateforme de negociation d'actifs numeriques is an enumerated service requiring COSUMAF agrement. Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 decembre 2024, art. 42(1), separately forbids exercising VASP activity without prior approval. What remains true is the practical conclusion: no implementing instructions have been issued, no licensed PSAN is publicly known, and COBAC D-2022/071 still denies exchanges access to banking services.

Second half is correct: COBAC-supervised institutions (banks, microfinance, payment institutions, bureaux de change) are prohibited by Decision COBAC D-2022/071 from holding, exchanging or converting crypto-assets, so regulated-sector custody is indeed impossible. First half is wrong as of 2026: 'conservation d'actifs numeriques pour le compte de tiers' is an enumerated PSAN service under the COSUMAF Reglement general du 23 mai 2023 and requires COSUMAF agrement, and the CEMAC VASP definition in Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM expressly covers safekeeping of virtual assets.

A VASP/PSAN authorisation regime does exist and covers Cameroon, at CEMAC level. (i) The COSUMAF Reglement general du 23 mai 2023 (in force 24 May 2023) creates the prestataire de services sur actifs numeriques status, defines jetons numeriques functionally (art. 336: 'tout bien incorporel representant, sous forme numerique, un ou plusieurs droits'), reserves digital-token placement to PSAN, and requires COSUMAF agrement for buying/selling digital assets against legal currency, third-party custody, operating a trading platform, order reception/transmission, portfolio management, advice and placement. (ii) Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 decembre 2024 defines 'actifs virtuels' and 'prestataires de services d'actifs virtuels', makes them assujettis, and at art. 42(1) provides that no one may carry on VASP activity professionally without prior approval or authorisation from the competent authority (art. 39: 10-year record retention; art. 42(5)(a): originator/beneficiary travel-rule information). The record's practical conclusion is nevertheless close to reality: no implementing instructions have been published, no PSAN agrement is publicly known, and COBAC D-2022/071 continues to prohibit supervised institutions from any crypto dealing. The accurate framing is 'a regime exists in law but is not operational', not 'no regime exists'.

Entities seeking to operate in the crypto space would likely face a lack of legal recognition and significant operational hurdles, particularly concerning banking relationships.

Evidence fact cm.licensing.beac-communiqu-on-cryptocurrencies-december not found (may have been renamed).

Lack of Legal Tender Status: Cryptocurrencies are not recognized as legal tender within the CEMAC zone.

Local Presence: For most regulated financial activities in Cameroon, a local corporate entity and physical presence are mandatory. This would likely extend to any future crypto licensing.

The substantive claim is right but the instrument identity is wrong. There is no "Regulation No. 02/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/22" and no 2022 CEMAC AML regulation. The instrument is Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, signed at Libreville on 20 December 2024 (CEMAC/UMAC Ministerial Committee, extraordinary session), effective on signature and abrogating all contrary provisions of Reglement n° 01/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 11 avril 2016. It does define virtual assets - art. 2(72): "Digital representation of a value that can be digitally traded, transferred or used for payment or investment purposes... does not include digital representations of fiat currencies, securities and other financial assets already covered by specific regulatory provisions" - and defines prestataires de services d'actifs virtuels; art. 6(e) lists "virtual or digital asset service providers" among the assujettis, so VASPs carry the same AML/CFT obligations as financial institutions. It is a FATF-aligned revision (approved by GABAC Plenary Resolution No. 10 of 28 September 2024). The 2022 CEMAC instrument that touches digital assets is a different one: Reglement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 on the regional financial market.

Loi n° 2016/007 du 12 juillet 2016 is Cameroon's Code Penal, not an AML/CFT law, and it did not create ANIF. Cameroon has no standalone national AML/CFT statute: the framework is the directly applicable CEMAC regulation - today Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 decembre 2024, previously Reglement n° 01/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 11 avril 2016 and before that Reglement n° 01/03-CEMAC-UMAC-CM du 4 avril 2003 - supplemented for supervised financial institutions by Reglement COBAC R-2023/01 on LBC/FT diligences (in force 1 July 2024). ANIF was created by Decret n° 2005/187 du 31 mai 2005 (organisation and functioning of the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financiere), operational since January 2006 and attached to the Ministere des Finances; its regional legal basis is art. 25 of Reglement n° 01/03-CEMAC-UMAC-CM, which instituted an ANIF in every Central African state.

Evidence fact cm.aml.identification-and-verification-of-customers not found (may have been renamed).

Evidence fact cm.aml.identification-of-beneficial-owners not found (may have been renamed).

Continuously monitoring business relationships and transactions to ensure they are consistent with the VASP's knowledge of the customer, their business, and their risk profile, including, where necessary, the source of funds.

Evidence fact cm.aml.applying-edd-measures-for-high-risk not found (may have been renamed).

Reporting Obligation: VASPs must report any transaction (or attempted transaction) that they suspect, or have reasonable grounds to suspect, is related to money laundering or terrorist financing, regardless of the amount.

CEMAC does have a virtual-asset travel rule. Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 (adopted in extraordinary session at Libreville) defines 'actif virtuel' and 'prestataire de services d'actifs virtuels' in art. 2, lists PSAV among the personnes assujetties in art. 6, and in art. 42 ('mesures spécifiques aux prestataires de services d'actifs virtuels') requires that, for a virtual-asset transfer, the originator's PSAV obtain and keep the required and accurate originator information and the required beneficiary information and transmit it to the beneficiary's PSAV — the FATF R.16 travel rule applied to virtual assets. Arts. 36–38 impose the parallel originator/beneficiary rules on virements électroniques by institutions financières. Being a CEMAC règlement, it is directly applicable in Cameroon without national transposition. The stated reason is also false: virtual-asset activity is not prohibited in Cameroon. Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 binds only COBAC-supervised establishments (banks, établissements financiers, EMF, établissements de paiement, bureaux de change manuel); it is not a general public ban, and the COSUMAF Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023 positively creates a PSAN licensing regime. What is true is that no PSAN/PSAV agrément had been granted anywhere in CEMAC as of 29 June 2025, so the travel rule exists on paper with no licensed obligated entity to apply it.

No 'BEAC Communiqué No. 003/GR/2022' exists. The real May 2022 act is the Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 relative à la détention, l'utilisation, l'échange et la conversion des cryptomonnaies ou cryptoactifs par les établissements assujettis à la COBAC. It was issued by COBAC (the CEMAC banking supervisor), not BEAC; it is an individual decision addressed to supervised establishments, not a règlement of general application; and it prohibits only those establishments from acquiring, holding, transferring, converting or booking crypto-assets, while requiring them to install internal controls to detect crypto operations and to inform COBAC and BEAC. It does not prohibit holding, buying or selling crypto by the general public, and it does not preclude legal VASP operation — the COSUMAF Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023 in fact provides for PSAN agrément. The six-member list of CEMAC states (Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon) is correct, as is BEAC's identification as the regional central bank.

The premise fails: virtual-asset activities are not banned in Cameroon, and legally recognised VASP status is provided for — the COSUMAF Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023 makes agrément mandatory for prestataires de services sur actifs numériques (purchase/sale against legal tender, third-party custody, trading platform operation, reception/transmission of orders, portfolio management, advice, placement). The travel rule does have an effective date: it enters CEMAC law with Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024, art. 42. The accurate statement is that no PSAN agrément had been issued as of 29 June 2025, so the regime is unoperationalised rather than inapplicable.

There is no 'BEAC Cryptocurrency Ban'. Operating a virtual-asset business in Cameroon is not per se a violation of any BEAC communiqué. The relevant exposure is different: (a) a COBAC-supervised establishment that deals in crypto breaches Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 and faces COBAC disciplinary sanctions; (b) anyone providing PSAN services without the COSUMAF agrément required by the Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023 acts unlawfully; and (c) art. 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 conditions professional PSAV activity on prior agrément or authorisation. Ordinary individuals transacting in crypto are not caught by any of these.

Imprisonment (under general financial crime laws).

Confiscation of assets.

Freezing of accounts.

Il n'existe aucune interdiction générale des crypto-actifs en zone CEMAC et la BEAC n'a émis aucun texte d'interdiction. La mesure de 2022 est la Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, prise par la COBAC (superviseur bancaire), qui interdit aux seuls établissements assujettis à la COBAC de détenir, utiliser, échanger ou convertir des cryptoactifs pour compte propre ou pour compte de clients, de les comptabiliser au bilan, et leur impose un dispositif de détection et une remontée d'information à la COBAC et à la BEAC. Les personnes physiques et les entreprises non assujetties ne sont pas visées. À l'inverse, le Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 21 juillet 2022 (en vigueur le 1er août 2022) admet les 'actifs numériques' et 'jetons numériques' sur le marché financier d'Afrique centrale et soumet les prestataires de services sur actifs numériques à l'agrément de la COSUMAF.

Enforcement against crypto-related Ponzi schemes/fraudulent operations.

Aucune prohibition générale des activités liées aux crypto-actifs n'a été établie en zone CEMAC. L'exploitation d'une plateforme d'échange n'est pas 'hautement illégale' : elle constitue au contraire un service sur actifs numériques soumis à l'agrément de la COSUMAF depuis le Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 21 juillet 2022 et le Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023. Le minage n'est visé par aucun texte CEMAC. Seuls les établissements assujettis à la COBAC sont soumis à une interdiction, en vertu de la Décision COBAC D-2022/071.

Le fondateur de Global Investment Trading (GIT), promoteur de la plateforme Liyeplimal, est Émile Parfait SIMB — et non 'Emile Parfait Mbori', qui n'existe pas. Le jeton était le Limo / Limo dollar (commercialisé aussi sous le nom LimoCoin) — et non un 'Mofor Coin'. Les faits reprochés sont l'escroquerie et la collecte illégale de fonds : le MINFI avait mis en demeure GIT, parmi 17 entités, de cesser ses collectes illégales de fonds (communiqué d'octobre 2020) et la COSUMAF avait publié des mises en garde en octobre 2020 et juin 2021 pour exercice sans agrément.

Le fondateur est Émile Parfait Simb ; il a été interpellé le 26 mai 2022 puis libéré sous caution deux jours plus tard et a gagné la République centrafricaine — il n'a pas été 'arrêté et détenu' au sens d'une détention suivie. Selon l'enquête d'Afrique XXI, aucune information judiciaire n'avait été ouverte au Cameroun et les plaintes y ont été enlisées ; la seule condamnation connue (7 ans, 1 000 000 FCFA d'amende, 18 décembre 2023) émane de la CRIET du Bénin, juridiction étrangère. L'affirmation selon laquelle 'les procédures se poursuivent devant les juridictions camerounaises' n'est pas étayée.