Crypto-funded debit card in Eswatini

Eswatini operates no virtual-asset licensing regime: neither the Central Bank of Eswatini nor the Financial Services Regulatory Authority licenses virtual asset service providers, and the only hook is AML-side, created by the Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Financing of Terrorism and Counter-Proliferation Financing (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024, which directs supervisory authorities to establish a framework to regulate VASPs and under which VASPs are treated as accountable institutions registering with the Eswatini Financial Intelligence Centre.

FATF Recommendations: Eswatini, through its membership in ESAAMLG, is expected to continue enhancing its legal framework to fully comply with FATF Recommendation 15 on new technologies and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs). This implies that future amendments or new regulations could introduce more specific requirements for VASPs, which might eventually encompass more detailed aspects of custody.

Recommendation 15 (New Technologies): Specifically applies AML/CFT obligations to VASPs, including the obligation to implement sanctions screening.

Recommendation 6 (Targeted Financial Sanctions): Requires countries to implement targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and WMD proliferation without delay.

Evidence fact sz.aml.united-nations-un-sanctions not found (may have been renamed).

Eswatini's AML statute is the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 (Act 6 of 2011), amended by Act 5 of 2016, and the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, 2018 supplies asset-recovery powers, but United Nations Security Council targeted financial sanctions are given domestic effect by the Anti-Money Laundering (United Nations Security Council Resolutions) Regulations, 2016 together with the Suppression of Terrorism Act as amended by Act No. 11 of 2017, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation acting as the gateway for UNSC 1267 and 1373 listings; section 19 of the 2011 Act establishes the financial intelligence unit as the Swaziland Financial Intelligence Unit, the single body that now operates as the Eswatini Financial Intelligence Centre, and Eswatini was rated Non-Compliant on Recommendations 6 and 7 in the June 2022 ESAAMLG mutual evaluation.

Jurisdictional Nexus: A VASP in Eswatini becomes subject to OFAC sanctions if:

Eswatini operates no licensing regime for stablecoin issuers: neither the Central Bank of Eswatini nor the Financial Services Regulatory Authority publishes a virtual-asset or stablecoin licence, licence class, minimum capital floor, fee schedule or application process. Eswatini was rated Non-Compliant on FATF Recommendation 15 in the ESAAMLG mutual evaluation adopted in June 2022, and Recommendation 15 was not among the fifteen recommendations re-rated in the August 2025 enhanced follow-up report, so that rating stands.

A prospective stablecoin issuer can obtain no authorisation from either Eswatini regulator. The Central Bank of Eswatini licenses banks, foreign-exchange bureaux and money- or value-transfer providers, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority licenses non-bank financial services, and neither issues a licence covering the issuance of a stablecoin or any other virtual asset. Admission to the Bank's FinTech Regulatory Sandbox, established under guidelines of May 2020 and confined to products and business models already regulated by the Bank, is a time-limited testing arrangement decided within 21 working days and is not a licence; those guidelines use none of the words crypto, cryptocurrency, virtual currency, virtual asset or stablecoin, and no participant register is published.

Stablecoin issuance in Eswatini sits outside the prudential perimeter. The Central Bank of Eswatini regulates commercial banks, foreign-exchange bureaux, money- or value-transfer service providers and money remittances under the Central Bank Order 1974, the Financial Institutions Act 2005, the Exchange Control Order 1974 and the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011, and none of those instruments reaches virtual assets: the 2011 Act as amended to 2016 uses none of the terms virtual asset, virtual currency, crypto, digital currency or electronic money. No reserve-backing, capital or audit requirement therefore applies to a stablecoin issuer in Eswatini.

Eswatini law confers no redemption right on the holder of a stablecoin: no Eswatini instrument creates a par-value redemption duty, a redemption deadline, a fee prohibition or a claim against an issuer's reserves, because Eswatini has enacted no stablecoin, e-money-token or asset-referenced-token regime. The Central Bank of Eswatini's 2023 notice records that crypto investments or assets are currently unregulated in Eswatini and that holders receive none of the legal protection associated with regulated instruments or products.

Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) Act, 2010:

The Central Bank of Eswatini's 2023 notice 'Considerations for Dealing in Cryptocurrencies' states that cryptocurrencies 'do not exist physically and have no legal tender status in Eswatini' and that 'crypto investments or assets are currently unregulated in Eswatini; therefore, investors do not benefit from the legal protection associated with regulated instruments or products'. It is a consumer warning addressed to the public that directs readers to verify a provider's licence with the Central Bank of Eswatini and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority; it contains no directive to financial institutions and imposes no obligation.

Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) Public Statement on Virtual Assets (Cryptocurrencies)

Ongoing Discussions and Regulatory Development