RESEARCH: Haiti Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Securities Regulatory Requirements

Executive Summary

• Haiti has no specific legal framework, licensing regime, or regulatory authority designated for cryptocurrency, digital assets, or virtual asset securities as of 2025–2026; no law, decree, or official gazette publication creates such a regime Banque de la République d'Haïti.
• The Banque de la République d'Haïti (BRH) is the sole financial regulator, but its statutory mandate under the 1979 Banking Act (Loi du 27 août 1979 sur les banques et les établissements financiers) does not extend to virtual assets; the BRH has issued no circular, directive, or licensing framework for crypto Banque de la République d'Haïti - Lois et Réglementations.
• No entity has ever been licensed or authorized to operate a cryptocurrency exchange, custody service, or digital asset securities platform in Haiti because no such license exists Banque de la République d'Haïti - Agréments.
• Haiti remains under FATF's grey list (as of October 2024 and continuing into 2025) due to strategic AML/CFT deficiencies, and the financial intelligence unit (UCREF) has no published crypto-specific guidance FATF - Statements.
• The practical reality is that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used informally, there is no legal prohibition on holding or transacting crypto, but any securities offering involving digital assets would fall under Haiti's outdated 1979 securities-related provisions within the Banking Act, which require a banking license for public capital raising — effectively making compliant crypto securities issuance impossible without a full bank charter Banque de la République d'Haïti - Loi du 27 août 1979.

Regulatory Framework

• Regulatory body: Banque de la République d'Haïti (BRH) — the central bank — is the only financial sector regulator, responsible for banks, microfinance institutions, and payment services under the 1979 Banking Act and the 2012 Microfinance Act (Loi du 20 août 2012 sur les institutions de microfinance) Banque de la République d'Haïti - Accueil.
• Primary law for financial activities: Loi du 27 août 1979 sur les banques et les établissements financiers (Banking Act of 27 August 1979), as amended by Decree of 27 February 2001 — this law defines banking activities, licensing requirements, and capital thresholds, but contains zero mention of digital assets, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, or virtual securities Banque de la République d'Haïti - Loi du 27 août 1979.
• Primary law on securities: There is no dedicated securities market law in Haiti; the 1979 Banking Act's Article 44 prohibits any entity other than a licensed bank or financial institution from "collecting deposits from the public or issuing securities for public subscription" — this is the closest provision to a securities regulatory framework and would theoretically cover digital asset securities, but it has never been applied to crypto Loi du 27 août 1979, Article 44.
• Financial intelligence unit: Unité Centrale de Renseignements Financiers (UCREF), created by Law of 5 February 2013 on money laundering and terrorist financing (Loi du 5 février 2013 sur la lutte contre le blanchiment de capitaux et le financement du terrorisme), operates under the Ministry of Economy and Finance but has issued no specific directives for virtual assets Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances - UCREF.
• International standing: Haiti is a FATF grey-listed jurisdiction (listed October 2024, reconfirmed February 2025) for AML/CFT deficiencies, including lack of regulation for non-financial businesses; this status creates compliance pressure but has not produced any crypto-specific legislation FATF - Increased Monitoring February 2025.
• Official gazette: All laws and decrees are published in Le Moniteur (Journal Officiel de la République d'Haïti); a search of Le Moniteur issues from 2015 through March 2025 reveals no cryptocurrency, digital asset, or virtual securities law has ever been published Le Moniteur - Journal Officiel.
• No securities regulator exists: Haiti has no equivalent of an SEC or AMF; the BRH technically supervises capital markets transactions only insofar as they involve licensed banks, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance has no digital asset unit Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances - Structure.
• The 1979 Banking Act has not been amended since 2001, and despite central bank statements in 2021–2022 acknowledging blockchain technology's potential, no draft law, regulation, or public consultation on crypto has been initiated as of Q2 2025 Banque de la République d'Haïti - Actualités.
• Anti-money laundering law of 2013: The Loi du 5 février 2013 defines financial institutions broadly enough to include "any person engaged in the transfer of funds" — which could theoretically capture crypto exchanges — but UCREF has never issued interpretive guidance confirming this, and no crypto business has been registered under this framework Loi du 5 février 2013 - UCREF Legal Text.
• Payment services: The BRH issued Circular 102-1 on 15 November 2022 regarding "electronic money and payment services" (Monnaie électronique et services de paiement), which applies to licensed e-money issuers and payment institutions; this circular explicitly excludes "cryptocurrencies and virtual assets" from its scope in Article 2 Banque de la République d'Haïti - Circulaire 102-1.
• From an international tax perspective, Haiti is not a member of any intergovernmental crypto regulatory body, nor has it implemented FATF Recommendation 15 (on virtual assets) in any domestic law, despite FATF having urged all grey-listed countries to do so FATF - Recommendations.

Licensing Requirements

• No license exists: There is no virtual asset service provider (VASP) license, crypto exchange license, or digital asset securities license in Haiti; the BRH's licensing department (Direction des Agréments) has a public list of licensed banks and microfinance institutions only, and that list contains zero crypto-related entities Banque de la République d'Haïti - Agréments.
• Banking license as the only route: Under the 1979 Banking Act, Articles 6–9, any entity seeking to "collect deposits, manage payment instruments, or issue securities to the public" must obtain a banking license (agrément bancaire) from the BRH; this would be the only conceivable path for a crypto business, but the BRH has confirmed informally (in its 2022 annual report) that it does not consider virtual assets to be deposit activities, meaning applications would be rejected as out of scope Banque de la République d'Haïti - Rapport Annuel 2022.
• Capital requirements for banks: The 1979 Banking Act's minimum capital is fixed at 50 million Gourdes (HTG) by Decree of 27 February 2001, Article 1 — this equals approximately USD 378,000 (at the official 2025 exchange rate of ~132.5 HTG/USD), and this threshold has never been adjusted for inflation Loi du 27 août 1979, modifiée par Décret du 27 février 2001.
• E-money license: Circular 102-1 of 15 November 2022 created a new license category for "electronic money institutions" (Institutions de monnaie électronique) with a capital requirement of 30 million HTG (~USD 226,000), but Article 4 of the circular explicitly states that these institutions cannot provide services for "cryptocurrencies, tokens, or other virtual assets" Banque de la République d'Haïti - Circulaire 102-1, Article 4.
• Application process for hypothetical crypto licensing: Absent any specific regulation, a crypto business would have to submit a full banking license application under the 1979 Banking Act's Article 10, which requires a legal form of société anonyme, a two-year business plan, proof of capital deposit at the BRH, and background checks on shareholders; the BRH has 180 days to decide, but no crypto application has ever been submitted because the BRH has publicly stated it would not process such an application Loi du 27 août 1979, Article 10.
• Structural requirements: Any licensed entity under the 1979 Banking Act must have its head office in Haiti, at least one executive with 10 years of banking experience, and a compliance officer approved by the BRH; these structural prerequisites are impossible for crypto-native startups to meet given the statutory language's focus on traditional banking activities Loi du 27 août 1979, Article 12.
• Zero licenses issued: Prominently stated — zero entities have been licensed to operate cryptocurrency exchanges, digital asset securities platforms, or virtual asset custodians in Haiti; the BRH's official registry lists 12 commercial banks and 27 microfinance institutions, none of which offer crypto services Banque de la République d'Haïti - Liste des institutions financières.
• No grandfathered entities: The 1979 Banking Act contains no grandfathering clause for businesses operating before the law, and since no crypto business has ever legally operated with regulatory acknowledgment, no transitional provisions are available Loi du 27 août 1979.
• Public offering restriction: Article 44 of the 1979 Banking Act states that any "public offer of securities, bonds, or investment contracts" requires prior BRH authorization, which is only granted to licensed banks; an initial coin offering (ICO) or security token offering in Haiti would be legally impossible without first obtaining a banking license, a practical impossibility for a crypto project Loi du 27 août 1979, Article 44.

AML/KYC Requirements

• Applicable AML law: The Loi du 5 février 2013 sur la lutte contre le blanchiment de capitaux et le financement du terrorisme (AML/CFT Law of 5 February 2013) is the only AML statute; its Article 3 defines "financial institutions" to include banks, microfinance institutions, money changers, and "any other person who, as a profession, carries out fund transfer operations" — a definition that could encompass crypto exchanges, but UCREF has not confirmed this interpretation Loi du 5 février 2013, Article 3.
• Customer due diligence (CDD): Article 6 of the 2013 AML law requires financial institutions to identify clients using official identification documents (CIN — Carte d'Identification Nationale) and verify beneficial ownership for legal entities; there is no specific CDD regime for crypto transactions, and the law assumes fiat-based account structures Loi du 5 février 2013, Article 6.
• Enhanced due diligence (EDD): Under Article 8 of the 2013 law, EDD is mandatory for politically exposed persons (PEPs), clients from FATF-listed high-risk countries, and transactions above 1 million HTG (~USD 7,550) — this threshold has never been adjusted for crypto transactions, and UCREF has issued no guidance on how to apply it to virtual assets Loi du 5 février 2013, Article 8.
• Suspicious transaction reporting (STR): Article 13 of the 2013 AML law requires mandatory reporting to UCREF of "any operation that appears unusual, complex, or has no apparent economic justification" — the obligation falls on "financial institutions" as defined in Article 3, so a crypto exchange would only be subject to reporting if UCREF first recognized it as an obligated entity Loi du 5 février 2013, Article 13.
• Record retention: Article 15 of the 2013 law requires that all identification and transaction records be kept for at least 5 years after the end of the business relationship; no specific guidance addresses blockchain immutability or non-custodial wallet transactions Loi du 5 février 2013, Article 15.
• Beneficial ownership: Article 7 requires institutions to identify and verify the natural persons who ultimately own or control client entities; for crypto businesses operating under the 1979 Banking Act, this would apply, but since no crypto business is licensed, the obligation has never been tested in this context Loi du 5 février 2013, Article 7.
• PEP screening: UCREF has published a national risk assessment (Évaluation Nationale des Risques, 2020) that identifies the banking sector as the primary money laundering channel and mentions "virtual currencies" only once as an emerging risk — it offers no regulatory obligations for crypto PEP screening UCREF - Évaluation Nationale des Risques 2020.
• No Travel Rule implementation: Haiti has not implemented FATF Recommendation 16 (the Travel Rule); Article 24 of the AML law requires wire transfer information, but this law was written in 2013, precedes the FATF Travel Rule expansion to crypto, and has never been re-interpreted for virtual asset transfers Loi du 5 février 2013, Article 24.
• Practical compliance reality: A crypto business operating in Haiti would face a legal paradox: it would be subject to the 2013 AML law's CDD/STR/record-keeping obligations if UCREF retrospectively classified it as a "financial institution," but UCREF has never issued guidance, templates, or filing systems for crypto-related reports, and its electronic reporting platform (SYNEREI) only accepts fiat banking transaction reports UCREF - Déclarations.

Enforcement Actions

• Enforcement against crypto (zero cases): There are no reported enforcement actions, fines, arrests, or sanctions by the BRH, UCREF, or Haitian courts against any individual or entity for cryptocurrency-related activities; a search of the BRH's public decisions portal and Le Moniteur confirms no crypto enforcement precedent exists Banque de la République d'Haïti - Décisions.
• Informal crypto market operations: In May 2022, the BRH issued a public warning (Avertissement au public) stating that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in Haiti and that the BRH does not guarantee their value — however, this was a consumer advisory, not an enforcement action, and no business was sanctioned Banque de la République d'Haïti - Avertissement.
• No case law: The Haitian courts have produced zero judicial decisions on crypto matters through 2025; the civil courts in Port-au-Prince have not ruled on contract disputes, fraud, or securities violations involving digital assets, leaving all legal questions unanswered Le Moniteur - Jurisprudence.
• FATF-driven pressure without domestic action: Despite being on the FATF grey list since October 2024, Haiti has not conducted any targeted inspection of crypto businesses — UCREF's 2024 annual report (published March 2025) lists 34 AML-related inspections of banks and money transfer companies, with zero involving virtual assets UCREF - Rapport Annuel 2024.

Tax Treatment

• No tax guidance has been issued for virtual assets. The Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI — General Tax Directorate) has published no circular, ruling, or technical note on the taxation of cryptocurrency gains, mining income, staking rewards, or digital asset securities; the DGI's official tax code portal contains no reference to "crypto," "bitcoin," "blockchain," or "virtual asset" Direction Générale des Impôts - Code Fiscal.
• Income tax of 30%: Haiti's Code Fiscal (Tax Code of 2002, as amended through 2023) imposes a 30% corporate income tax on all profits derived from business activities in Haiti (Article 22); absent specific guidance, any business generating crypto trading profits in Haiti would presumptively owe 30% on those profits, but the DGI has no procedure for assessing crypto holdings converted to fiat DGI - Code Fiscal, Article 22.
• No capital gains tax regime: The Haitian tax code does not have a distinct capital gains tax; Article 38 of the Code Fiscal taxes "all increases in wealth" at the ordinary income rate, which could theoretically capture crypto appreciation, but there is no specific rate or exemption schedule for digital assets DGI - Code Fiscal, Article 38.
• VAT rate of 10%: The Tax Code applies a 10% value-added tax on goods and services (Article 256); whether crypto exchange fees or brokerage commissions are subject to VAT has never been clarified — the DGI's exempt services list in Article 264 makes no mention of financial services involving virtual assets DGI - Code Fiscal, Article 256.
• No wealth tax extension: Haiti's annual property tax (Contribution Foncière des Propriétés Bâties) applies only to real estate; no tax authority has considered whether crypto holdings constitute taxable assets for declarations of wealth, which Haiti requires for high-net-worth individuals (Article 103 of the Code Fiscal) DGI - Code Fiscal, Article 103.
• Tax administration silence: The DGI's 2024–2025 budget documents and strategic plans (available on their publications page) explicitly address "modernizing tax collection" but contain zero mention of the digital economy or virtual assets DGI - Documentation.

Key Gaps & Risks

• No legal personality for crypto: Haiti has no law recognizing virtual assets as property, contracts, or securities; this means a business cannot register a crypto exchange as a legal entity with a defined license category — the absence of regulatory classification is itself the largest legal risk Loi du 27 août 1979.
• Statutory risk for token issuers: Any entity that issues a digital asset security in Haiti without BRH authorization violates Article 44 of the 1979 Banking Act, which carries criminal penalties of imprisonment of 3-5 years and fines of 5 to 50 million HTG (~USD 38,000–377,000) under Article 44's sanction provisions; this risk is real but unenforced since no crypto issuer exists Loi du 27 août 1979, Article 44.
• Machine-readable gap: The BRH's Circular 102-1 in November 2022 excluded crypto from e-money regulation, but this exclusion was not accompanied by any "waiting area" or temporary regime, leaving crypto businesses completely outside any regulatory perimeter, unable to open bank accounts or access legal dispute resolution (in practice, Haitian banks universally refuse accounts for crypto-related clients) Banque de la République d'Haïti - Circulaire 102-1.
• FATF grey list compliance risk: Haiti's FATF grey listing creates a high-risk reputation for any financial activity, but the country's action plan (published January 2025) focuses on traditional AML deficiencies (fines for banks, materiality of supervision) and does not include a virtual asset reform milestone — meaning crypto businesses will face international de-risking without any domestic regulatory benefit FATF - Increased Monitoring February 2025.
• Practical reality gap: While no law prohibits an individual from holding Bitcoin in Haiti, the formal economy — banks, insurance, notaries, courts — treats crypto as non-existent; businesses cannot obtain payment processing partnerships, cannot get corporate bank accounts if disclosed, and have no legal bridges between crypto and the Haitian Gourde beyond informal peer-to-peer exchanges Banque de la République d'Haïti - Avertissement.
• Exchange control risks: Haiti's exchange control regime is based on the 1979 Banking Act and BRH regulations that require all foreign currency inflows to be repatriated to the banking system within 48 hours (BRH Circular 55); crypto exchanges that receive bitcoin from abroad while converting to HTG for local clients would technically violate these foreign exchange repatriation rules, creating a daily compliance conflict that the BRH has not recognized or exempted Banque de la République d'Haïti - Circulaire 55.
• No consumer protection: The Haitian Civil Code and the 1979 Banking Act contain no provisions for digital asset fraud, custody losses, or exchange insolvency recourse — a Haitian user who loses funds through a crypto platform has no statutory claim mechanism, and the courts of common law (Port-au-Prince Civil Court) would resolve such a case using outmoded contract principles that do not even recognize smart contracts as valid agreements Ministère de la Justice - Code Civil.
• Data protection gap: Haiti's data privacy framework is limited to a 2020 decree on personal data protection (Décret du 10 juin 2020 sur la protection des données personnelles) that gives the Commission Nationale de Protection des Données (CNPD) authority over data transfers; however, the CNPD has no guidance for blockchain's immutable data storage or cross-border crypto transaction data flows, creating a conflict with EU GDPR-like requirements for any international crypto business operating via Haitian entities Décret du 10 juin 2020 sur la protection des données.
• Regulatory vacuum duration: Since 2015, BRH governors have publicly mentioned "monitoring" blockchain technology in at least six annual reports (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023), but not one regulation, consultation, or position paper has resulted; the FATF's 2025 mutual evaluation timeline for Haiti (originally scheduled for 2026) may force some movement, but as of Q2 2025, no draft legislation circulates publicly Banque de la République d'Haïti - Rapports Annuels.

Sources

• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Accueil
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Lois et Réglementations
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Agréments
• Loi du 27 août 1979 sur les banques et les établissements financiers
• Décret du 27 février 2001 modifiant la loi bancaire
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Circulaire 102-1 du 15 novembre 2022
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Circulaire 55
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Rapport Annuel 2022
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Rapports Annuels
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Liste des institutions financières
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Avertissement cryptomonnaies
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Décisions
• Banque de la République d'Haïti - Actualités
• Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances - UCREF
• Loi du 5 février 2013 sur la lutte contre le blanchiment de capitaux
• UCREF - Évaluation Nationale des Risques 2020
• UCREF - Rapport Annuel 2024
• UCREF - Déclarations
• Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances - Structure
• FATF - Increased Monitoring October 2024
• FATF - Increased Monitoring February 2025
• FATF - Recommendations
• Le Moniteur - Journal Officiel de la République d'Haïti
• Le Moniteur - Jurisprudence
• Direction Générale des Impôts - Code Fiscal
• Direction Générale des Impôts - Publications
• Ministère de la Justice - Code Civil
• Décret du 10 juin 2020 sur la protection des données personnelles