DeFi protocol frontend 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.

Reference: While a direct official BEAC publication link for this specific instruction can be hard to find publicly, its existence and content are widely reported by regional news outlets and financial sector analyses. This instruction effectively prohibits financial institutions under BEAC supervision from engaging in crypto-asset-related activities.

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.

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 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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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

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.

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CENAREF Website: While CENAREF's website might not specifically mention "virtual assets" or "VASPs" in its publicly available texts, it is responsible for implementing AML/CFT laws that are generally aligned with FATF recommendations.