Crypto ATM / kiosk operator 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.

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 absence of specific regulations, leading to a legal grey area.

The potential for future regulatory changes, which could include outright bans, strict licensing, or a more facilitative framework.

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.

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own holdings; the segregation duty would come from the COSUMAF implementing instruction for PSAN, which remains unpublished more than three years after the Règlement Général was adopted.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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Relationships with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).

Transactions involving high-risk jurisdictions.

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

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.

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.

While global trends (e.g., FATF recommendations) push countries to regulate VASPs, specific implementation in CEMAC countries has been slow regarding a facilitative rather than prohibitory approach.