Is Crypto Legal in Gabon?

BEAC Instruction n° 001/GR/2021 defines the operating procedures of the Centrale des Incidents de Paiement and carries no crypto-asset provision, and BEAC has issued no instruction banning crypto-assets in the CEMAC zone; the CEMAC measure on crypto-assets is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, which binds only institutions supervised by COBAC.

Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 bars every COBAC-supervised institution operating in Gabon, including credit institutions, microfinance establishments and payment institutions, from acquiring, holding, transferring or converting crypto-assets and from booking them on their balance sheets, which forecloses bank-provided crypto custody; the décision binds supervised institutions only and leaves holding of crypto by private persons lawful.

Custody of digital assets for third parties is a licensed activity in Gabon: article 160 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 places prestation de services sur actifs numériques under the COSUMAF regime, article 1 of the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 defines the prestataire de services sur actifs numériques by reference to conservation d'actifs numériques, and article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 forbids carrying on virtual-asset service activity without prior agrément; COSUMAF has issued no PSAN agrément to date.

The instrument closing the crypto channel for Gabonese banks is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, taken by COBAC and not by BEAC, and non-bank operators are not in an unregulated space: the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 subjects prestataires de services sur actifs numériques to a COSUMAF agrément at articles 336 and following, and article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM requires prior agrément before any virtual-asset service activity is carried on.

Gabon applies the CEMAC prestataire de services sur actifs numériques regime, under which digital-asset custody is licensed by COSUMAF, and no CEMAC or COSUMAF text yet imposes a rule segregating client digital assets from a custodian's own holdings; the segregation duty would come from the COSUMAF implementing instruction for PSAN, which remains unpublished more than three years after the Règlement Général was adopted.

No CEMAC or COSUMAF text imposes insurance or bonding obligations on digital-asset custodians in Gabon, while the underlying licensing regime does exist: prestataires de services sur actifs numériques require a COSUMAF agrément under the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 and prior agrément under article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, and the prudential detail awaits the COSUMAF implementing instruction for PSAN.

No CEMAC or COSUMAF text mandates cold storage or any named security protocol for digital-asset custodians in Gabon, and the licensing regime that would carry such technical rules is in force: article 160 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF covers services sur actifs numériques and the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 makes their provision subject to COSUMAF agrément, with the operational requirements left to an implementing instruction that COSUMAF has not published.

CEMAC law uses no category of 'qualified custodian', and its functional equivalent is the prestataire de services sur actifs numériques whose activity includes conservation d'actifs numériques, defined at article 1 of the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 and brought within the COSUMAF regime by article 160 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022; Gabon has no national definition of its own because the CEMAC texts apply directly.

A framework for digital-asset custody already applies in Gabon rather than being pending: Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 brings jetons numériques and services sur actifs numériques into the COSUMAF regime, the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 creates the PSAN status and subjects it to agrément, and article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 requires prior agrément of virtual-asset service providers; the outstanding step is the COSUMAF implementing instruction setting application conditions and fees.

CEMAC law recognises a single undifferentiated jeton, defined at article 1 of the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 as an intangible asset representing one or more rights in digital form issued, recorded, held or transferred through a dispositif d'enregistrement électronique partagé, and it creates no category of jeton d'investissement resting on a 2000 instrument on the harmonisation of financial instruments; article 76 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 instead brings jetons numériques within the appel public à l'épargne regime.

The Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 defines jeton functionally without distinguishing utility tokens from other tokens, so no CEMAC text states that jetons d'usage fall outside the definition of financial instruments; every jeton offered to the public engages the appel public à l'épargne regime of article 76 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF and articles 125 to 163 of the Règlement Général.

CEMAC law contains no category of jeton de paiement and gives BEAC no licensing role over tokens: monnaie électronique under Règlement n° 04/18/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC du 21 décembre 2018 is monetary value stored electronically representing a claim on the issuing establishment, which a crypto-asset does not create, and it is COBAC that licenses and supervises electronic-money issuers and payment institutions while BEAC approves payment-system solutions.

Tokenized Shares: Tokens representing ownership in a company, conferring voting rights, dividend rights, etc.

Tokenized Bonds: Tokens representing debt instruments, offering interest payments and repayment of principal.

Tokenized Units of Collective Investment Schemes: Tokens representing units or shares in investment funds.

Tokenized Derivatives: Tokens linked to underlying assets, whose value is derived from those assets (e.g., tokenized futures, options, swaps).

Any crypto-asset designed or marketed with an expectation of profit from the efforts of others and conferring rights typical of traditional financial instruments.

A public offering of jetons numériques in Gabon does require COSUMAF clearance, but not under any article 5: article 76 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 applies the appel public à l'épargne regime to jetons numériques, and the procedure sits at articles 125 to 163 of the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023, with the visa granted at articles 150 to 161.

An issuer making an appel public à l'épargne in the CEMAC market must publish a document d'information carrying a COSUMAF visa under articles 150 to 161 of the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023, and article 156 lets COSUMAF refuse the visa where the information is insufficient or the issuer's dirigeants lack the requisite probité; no article 5 governs this and the instrument is a document d'information rather than a prospectus approved under that number.

The Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 does test the standing of an issuer's management: article 156 allows COSUMAF to refuse the visa on a document d'information where the dirigeants do not present the necessary probité, and CEMAC law sets no separate fit-and-proper code for token issuers beyond that ground of refusal and the general agrément conditions applied to market intermediaries.

No CEMAC or COSUMAF text fixes a minimum capital for token issuers or for prestataires de services sur actifs numériques: the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 sets no capital floor for these activities, and the COSUMAF implementing instruction that would set application conditions, evaluation criteria, timelines and fees for PSAN has never been published.

Custody: Arrangements for the custody of the underlying assets or the tokens themselves must be robust and secure, often requiring a licensed custodian.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Compliance: Issuers must implement robust KYC/AML/CFT procedures.

The nature of investors (e.g., offers exclusively to qualified investors).

Trading platforms for jetons numériques in Gabon require a COSUMAF agrément as prestataire de services sur actifs numériques under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022, which brings jetons numériques inside the appel-public-à-l'épargne regime at article 76 and sets the agrément and the list of digital-asset services at articles 144 and 160; the requirement sits in no article 10, the CEMAC term is PSAN rather than DASP, and COSUMAF has granted no PSAN agrément in Gabon.

Prior COSUMAF agrément is required before providing services on actifs numériques in Gabon under article 144 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022, reinforced by article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024; COSUMAF has adopted no PSAN implementing instruction, no minimum capital and no governance or cybersecurity criteria, and the Règlement Général COSUMAF of 23 May 2023 contains no PSAN agrément procedure.

Market Integrity: Platforms must implement rules to ensure fair and orderly trading, prevent market manipulation, and manage conflicts of interest.

Transparency: Trading data may be subject to reporting requirements to COSUMAF.

Investor Protection: Platforms are responsible for implementing KYC/AML/CFT measures, safeguarding client assets, and providing clear information to investors.

COSUMAF issues injunctions and public warnings against unauthorised or non-compliant entities through the Commission des sanctions created by Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022, which separates investigation from the imposition of sanctions; the cited article 21 belongs to an instrument numbered 01/22-COSUMAF-CM that CEMAC never adopted.

COSUMAF's Commission des sanctions imposes pecuniary sanctions for breaches of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022, and those sanctions are cumulable with criminal penalties; the citation to article 21 of an instrument numbered 01/22-COSUMAF-CM points to a text CEMAC never adopted.

Suspension and withdrawal of an agrément are disciplinary sanctions available to COSUMAF's Commission des sanctions under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022; in Gabon no PSAN agrément has ever been granted, so no digital-asset licence exists to suspend or withdraw.

Administrative and disciplinary sanctions imposed by COSUMAF are cumulable with criminal penalties under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022, and the CEMAC AML règlement Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 applies directly in Gabon without national transposition; the article 21 citation refers to an instrument CEMAC never adopted.

The CEMAC instrument that brings digital assets into the regional securities regime is Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 portant organisation et fonctionnement du marché financier de l'Afrique Centrale; no text numbered 01/22-COSUMAF-CM exists, and the règlement is a general financial-market regulation rather than a dedicated crypto-asset instrument.

Navigate to "Textes réglementaires" or "Réglementations." Search for documents issued in 2022. The exact URL for the PDF may change.

CEMAC Commission Official Website (French)

Look under legal texts or regulations.

BEAC adopts no règlements; CEMAC règlements are adopted by the Comité Ministériel de l'UMAC, and the electronic-money and payment-services text applicable in Gabon is the CEMAC règlement of 21 December 2018 on payment services, n° 04/18/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC, implemented by Règlement COBAC R-2019/01 du 23 septembre 2019 on the agrément of payment service providers and Règlement COBAC R-2019/02 on their prudential standards. No instrument numbered 02/2022/CMAC/UMAC/CM exists.

This regulation covers electronic money and payment services, which might overlap with certain crypto-assets (e.g., stablecoins).

BEAC is the central bank of the six CEMAC states and issues the franc CFA BEAC (XAF), but it has adopted no virtual-asset instrument; the binding CEMAC measure on crypto-assets held by supervised institutions is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, and the licensing of digital-asset service providers rests with COSUMAF under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022.

COBAC is the CEMAC banking supervisor and adopts its own binding règlements and décisions rather than enforcing BEAC directives; Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 is its own act and bars credit institutions, microfinance establishments and payment institutions from acquiring, holding, transferring, converting or booking crypto-assets.

COSUMAF has been the competent authority for digital assets in CEMAC since Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 brought jetons numériques into the appel-public-à-l'épargne regime and created the PSAN agrément, so Gabonese digital-asset licensing already sits with COSUMAF rather than being a future possibility; there is no CEMAC crypto ban, only Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 binding supervised institutions.

No BEAC circular prohibits cryptocurrencies in the CEMAC zone and none was issued on 14 December 2022; the measure of that period is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, while BEAC's genuine Instruction n° 001/GR/2022 concerns import declarations in the extractive sector.

Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, not any BEAC circular, bars COBAC-supervised credit institutions, microfinance establishments and payment institutions operating in Gabon from acquiring, holding, transferring, converting or booking crypto-assets, and requires them to detect and report such operations.

Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 was the first binding CEMAC measure on crypto-assets rather than a restatement of earlier BEAC or COBAC warnings, and it leaves private persons in Gabon free to hold and use crypto-assets outside the regulated banking channel.

Note: While the direct PDF of the circular in English may not be readily available on the BEAC's public English site, its existence and content are widely reported by financial news and legal analyses covering the CEMAC region.

No BEAC circular restricts crypto-assets in Gabon. Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, taken by the Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale, bars COBAC-supervised institutions alone — credit institutions, microfinance establishments, payment institutions and bureaux de change — from acquiring, holding, transferring, converting or booking crypto-assets, and requires them to detect such operations and report them to COBAC and BEAC.

Providing banking services to crypto businesses or exchanges.

Engaging in crypto trading themselves.

Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 closes the banking and conversion channel in Gabon by binding COBAC-supervised institutions only, while COSUMAF licenses virtual-asset activity as PSAN under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 and its Règlement Général of 23 May 2023, so running an exchange in Gabon is unlicensed rather than legally impossible.

Private persons in Gabon may lawfully hold, buy and exchange crypto-assets, including peer to peer, because Décision COBAC D-2022/071 binds supervised institutions only and no CEMAC or Gabonese text prohibits private use; Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM subjects virtual-asset service providers, not individual users, to AML/CFT obligations and prior agrément.

COSUMAF has granted no PSAN agrément in Gabon or anywhere else in CEMAC, so no licensed crypto-asset exchange operates in Gabon; a licensing regime nevertheless exists, since article 144 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF requires COSUMAF agrément and the COSUMAF Règlement Général of 23 May 2023 defines jeton, PSAN and DEEP at article 1 and brings virtual assets into risk-based AML/CFT supervision at articles 91 to 93.

Règlement n° 01/16-CEMAC-UMAC-CM du 11 avril 2016 governed AML/CFT in Gabon until the UMAC Ministerial Committee adopted Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM at Libreville on 20 December 2024; the 2024 règlement supersedes it, defines actif virtuel and PSAV at article 2, lists PSAV among the assujettis at article 6 and requires prior agrément plus a virtual-asset travel rule at article 42.

Note: While this regulation predates FATF's specific guidance on virtual assets (Recommendation 15 and its Interpretative Note from 2018), its broad scope often means VASPs are expected to comply as "financial institutions" or similar entities if they perform functions akin to traditional financial services.

General search term for official document: "Règlement n°01/16-CEMAC-UMAC-CM relatif à la prévention et à la répression du blanchiment de capitaux et du financement du terrorisme"

Individuals: Obtain and verify identity using reliable, independent source documents (e.g., national ID cards, passports, driver's licenses) for name, date of birth, place of birth, address, and nationality.

Legal Entities (Companies): Obtain and verify information such as the company's name, legal form, address of registered office, names of directors, and provisions governing the power to bind the company. Identify and verify the identity of the beneficial owners (individuals who ultimately own or control the company) and persons acting on behalf of the company.

Purpose and Nature of the Business Relationship: Understand the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship or the specific transaction.

Conduct ongoing due diligence on the business relationship and scrutiny of transactions undertaken throughout the course of that relationship to ensure that the transactions are consistent with the VASP's knowledge of the customer, their business, and risk profile.

Keep customer identification data up-to-date.

Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD): Apply EDD in situations identified as higher risk, including

Relationships with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).

Complex, unusually large transactions, or unusual patterns of transactions that have no apparent economic or visible lawful purpose.

For virtual assets, this could involve deeper scrutiny of the source of funds/wealth, understanding the origin and destination of virtual assets, and the underlying purpose of transactions.

Obligation to Report: Any VASP that suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that funds (fiat or virtual assets) are the proceeds of a criminal activity, or are related to terrorist financing, must report its suspicions.

Suspicious transaction reports in Gabon are filed with the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financière (ANIF), the administrative financial intelligence unit attached to the Ministry of the Economy, which receives, analyses and transmits them to the competent judicial authorities under Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM.

No Tipping-Off: VASPs and their employees are prohibited from disclosing to the customer or to third parties that an STR has been filed.

Article 39 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM requires obliged entities in Gabon, including virtual-asset service providers, to keep customer identification documents and transaction records for a minimum of ten years after the account is closed or the business relationship ends, not five years.

Copies of documents used for identification and verification of customers and beneficial owners.

Account files and business correspondence.

Records of transactions, including the amount, currency (fiat and/or virtual asset type and quantity), date, and the identity of the parties involved.

Records of suspicious transaction reports filed.

Purpose: These records must be sufficient to permit the reconstruction of individual transactions and provide evidence for prosecution of criminal activity. They must be made available to competent authorities upon request.

Gabon's financial intelligence unit is the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financière (ANIF), an administrative-type FIU created by décret of 22 September 2005, attached to the Ministry of the Economy and operating its own site at anif.ga.

ANIF Gabon receives, analyses and transmits suspicious transaction reports to the competent judicial authorities, collects information from supervisory bodies and the judicial police, and coordinates national and international cooperation on money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.

Name: Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale (BEAC)

BEAC is the CEMAC central bank and has issued no virtual-asset instrument; the authority that licenses virtual-asset service providers in Gabon is COSUMAF, under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF of 21 July 2022 and the COSUMAF Règlement Général of 23 May 2023, whose articles 91 to 93 bring actifs virtuels into risk-based AML/CFT supervision, while COBAC décision D-2022/071 of 6 May 2022 bars COBAC-supervised institutions from handling crypto-assets.

Evolving Landscape: The regulatory landscape for virtual assets is rapidly evolving globally and in Africa. While specific "crypto laws" might not be fully developed, VASPs are expected to interpret and apply existing AML/CFT frameworks to their operations, guided by FATF standards.

Gabon is a member of GABAC, the FATF-style regional body for Central Africa, and is not itself a FATF member; the travel rule binding Gabonese virtual-asset service providers is article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, which requires originator and beneficiary information, prior agrément of PSAV, and enhanced vigilance for occasional transactions above 500 000 FCFA.

Professional Advice: Given the complexity and evolving nature of these regulations, any VASP operating or planning to operate in Gabon should seek specific legal and compliance advice from professionals with expertise in Gabonese and CEMAC AML/CFT laws and virtual asset regulations.

The UMAC Ministerial Committee, not GABAC, adopted Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM at Libreville on 20 December 2024, together with Règlements n° 03/24 and n° 04/24; GABAC is the region's FATF-style assessment body and issues no binding regulation. The règlement applies directly in Gabon without any national transposition law and subjects virtual-asset service providers to AML/CFT obligations.

No CEMAC instrument carries the number 01/CEMAC/UMAC/CMAB/22; the AML/CFT text covering virtual assets in Gabon is Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM of 20 December 2024, and the 2022 market instrument that created the PSAN licensing regime is Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF of 21 July 2022.

Article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM requires the ordering virtual-asset service provider to obtain, keep and transmit immediately and securely the required originator and beneficiary information to the beneficiary's PSAV or financial institution, and requires the beneficiary PSAV to keep that information and make it available to the competent authorities on request; this obligation binds providers operating in Gabon directly.

The travel-rule threshold applicable in Gabon is 500 000 FCFA for occasional virtual-asset transfer operations under article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM; the USD/EUR 1 000 figure is FATF illustration text and carries no force in CEMAC.

No CEMAC instrument numbered 01/CEMAC/UMAC/CMAB/22 exists; the AML/CFT text in force in Gabon is Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM portant prévention et répression du blanchiment des capitaux, du financement du terrorisme et de la prolifération, adopted unanimously by the UMAC Ministerial Committee at Libreville on 20 December 2024, replacing Règlement n° 01/16-CEMAC-UMAC-CM du 11 avril 2016.

Article 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM prescribes the originator and beneficiary information that a virtual-asset service provider must obtain, retain and transmit immediately and securely, and names no messaging standard or technical solution for doing so.

The AML/CFT règlement applicable in Gabon is titled Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM portant prévention et répression du blanchiment des capitaux, du financement du terrorisme et de la prolifération, adopted at Libreville on 20 December 2024; no CEMAC text bears the number 01/CEMAC/UMAC/CMAB/22.

BEAC issued no communiqué banning crypto-assets in December 2021 and has adopted no virtual-asset instrument at all. The restriction in force across CEMAC is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, which binds COBAC-supervised institutions only, and virtual-asset service providers in Gabon are licensable by COSUMAF as PSAN under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 and the COSUMAF Règlement Général of 23 May 2023.

Legal Reference: While a specific direct link to the original BEAC Communiqué might be difficult to find in English directly from the BEAC website, its existence and implications are widely reported by financial news and regulatory bodies.

Indirect Reference: Africanews report confirming the BEAC's stance in December 2021: https://www.africanews.com/2021/12/28/cemac-central-bank-bans-cryptocurrencies/

Gabon implements United Nations Security Council targeted financial sanctions through directly applicable CEMAC law: Règlement n° 04/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 governs targeted financial sanctions linked to terrorism and proliferation financing, and Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM defines freezing at article 2 and defines listed persons by reference to the lists drawn up by the United Nations Sanctions Committees, binding obliged entities including virtual-asset service providers.

Compliance for Financial Institutions (including hypothetical VASPs): Would require screening clients and transactions against the UN Consolidated Sanctions List.

Legal Reference: UN Security Council Resolutions, accessible via the UN website: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/information

OFAC (U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control) Sanctions: OFAC sanctions apply extraterritorially to

U.S. persons (citizens, residents, entities, wherever located).

Transactions involving the U.S. financial system or U.S.-origin goods/technology.

Non-U.S. persons engaging in transactions that cause a U.S. person to violate OFAC sanctions.

Compliance: Requires robust Know Your Customer (KYC), transaction monitoring, and screening against the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons List, and other OFAC sanctions lists.

Legal Reference: OFAC's main sanctions list and program information: https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-data/sanctions-programs-and-country-information

Within the territory of the EU.

On board vessels and aircraft under the jurisdiction of an EU Member State.

To some extent, non-EU entities if their actions facilitate breaches by EU persons.

Compliance: Requires screening against the EU Sanctions Map and adherence to EU AML/CFT directives.

Legal Reference: EU Sanctions Map: https://www.sanctionsmap.eu/

Regulate VASPs for AML/CFT purposes.

Gabon applies customer due diligence, record-keeping and suspicious-transaction reporting duties to virtual-asset service providers through the directly applicable Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, adopted at Libreville on 20 December 2024: art. 2 defines the actif virtuel, art. 6(e) makes prestataires de services sur actifs virtuels assujettis, art. 39 fixes a ten-year retention period and suspicious-transaction reports go to the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financière.

Gabon is covered by a virtual-asset travel rule through art. 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, which conditions virtual-asset service provision on prior agrément from the competent authority and requires originator and beneficiary information, with an occasional-transaction threshold of 500 000 FCFA rather than the EUR 1 000 figure used in FATF illustration text.

Legal Reference: FATF Recommendations (updated June 2019 Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and VASPs): https://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/fatfrecommendations/documents/guidance-rba-virtual-assets-2019.html

UN Consolidated Sanctions List: Individuals and entities designated by the UN Security Council.

OFAC SDN and Other Sanctions Lists: For any U.S. nexus.

EU Consolidated List of Persons, Groups, and Entities Subject to EU Financial Sanctions: For any EU nexus.

Gabon's financial intelligence unit is the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financière (ANIF), whose legal framework was consolidated by décret n° 0441 of 22 September 2005 and which operates at anif.ga; CENAREF is the financial intelligence unit of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and holds no Gabonese mandate. ANIF Gabon publishes no sanctions list or high-risk watchlist, and GABAC issues typologies and mutual-evaluation reports rather than designation lists.

Gabon's national financial intelligence unit (ANIF) was established by décret n° 0441 of 22 September 2005, confirming that CENAREF has no financial‑intelligence mandate and AML/CFT obligations arise from the CEMAC règlement of 20 December 2024.

No BEAC instrument bans cryptocurrency in Gabon. The measure in force is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 of 6 May 2022, which bars COBAC-supervised banks, établissements financiers, microfinance institutions, payment institutions and bureaux de change from acquiring, holding, converting or booking crypto-assets and binds those addressees only; Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM and the COSUMAF Règlement General of 23 May 2023 subject virtual-asset service providers in Gabon to an agrément regime rather than to a prohibition, and private holding and use of virtual assets remains lawful.

International Sanctioned Jurisdictions: Transactions with persons or entities located in, or associated with, countries under comprehensive international sanctions regimes are prohibited or heavily restricted. These typically include

Russia/Ukraine (specific regions like Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, and certain individuals/entities)

Violation of BEAC Prohibition/Gabonese Law: Engaging in cryptocurrency activities contrary to the BEAC's directive could lead to

Imprisonment (under general financial crime or unauthorized banking activity statutes).

Revocation of financial licenses (if applicable to a regulated entity engaging in unauthorized crypto activity).

Legal Reference: These penalties would stem from Gabonese banking laws, financial regulations (including those of CEMAC and BEAC), and the Gabonese Penal Code concerning financial offenses and money laundering. Specific articles would depend on the nature of the violation (e.g., unauthorized financial operations, AML/CFT breaches).

For Gabonese Entities/Individuals with a U.S. Nexus: Significant monetary penalties (civil and criminal), imprisonment for individuals, reputational damage, and loss of access to the U.S. financial system.

For Gabonese Entities/Individuals with an EU Nexus: Fines, imprisonment, and asset freezes.

Gabon gives effect to United Nations Security Council targeted financial sanctions through the directly applicable Règlement n° 04/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM on the implementation of targeted financial sanctions linked to terrorist and proliferation financing, adopted in December 2024 alongside Règlement n° 02/24, rather than through a dedicated Gabonese sanctions statute.

Legal Reference: Penalties are detailed within the specific sanctions programs of OFAC and EU regulations, as well as the national laws implementing UN Security Council Resolutions.

Gabon maintains no national sanctions list targeting cryptocurrency entities or wallets, and no United Nations, United States or European Union sanctions regime targets Gabon: the UN Security Council subsidiary-organ register lists fifteen sanctions regimes with none for Gabon, OFAC's programme index lists 42 programmes with none for Gabon, and the EU Sanctions Map regime register contains no Gabon regime. The stated reason is wrong, because BEAC has imposed no prohibition; the absence of a list reflects the absence of any designation power at national level.

Gabon's anti-money-laundering framework is administered by the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financière (ANIF), not by CENAREF, which is the Democratic Republic of the Congo's financial intelligence unit; targeted financial sanctions and asset freezes in Gabon take effect through Règlement n° 04/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, and neither ANIF nor GABAC publishes a watchlist of designated persons.

BEAC has issued no outright ban on crypto-assets in Gabon and publishes no such instrument in its exchange-policy or payment-systems registers; the restriction in force is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 of 6 May 2022, addressed to COBAC-supervised institutions, which closes the regulated banking channel while leaving private holding and use of virtual assets lawful, and Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM instead requires prior agrément for virtual-asset service providers.

Gabonese national laws and CEMAC/BEAC regulations, with penalties for violating the crypto ban and general AML/CFT provisions.

Sanctions exposure for Gabonese parties arises only from nexus-based application of United Nations, United States and European Union measures, since none of the three registers contains a regime directed at Gabon; Gabonese obligations toward UN designations run through Règlement n° 04/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM rather than through any national listing authority.

Gabon publishes no country-level sanctions list for crypto-assets, and its financial intelligence unit is the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financière (ANIF) at anif.ga, whose framework was consolidated by décret n° 0441 of 22 September 2005; CENAREF belongs to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and plays no part in Gabonese anti-money-laundering work.