Custodial wallet / SaaS in Chad
Hosted wallet provider that holds keys on behalf of end users, often white-labeled to businesses (custody as a service).
Custodial SaaS is not permitted in Chad.
Verdict Details
- Permitted
- no
- Local entity required
- No
- Licensing burden
- High
- Last updated
- 2026-07-13
AML Obligations
- Customer identification and verification (natural persons: full name, DOB, place of birth, nationality, physical address, unique ID number; legal entities: legal name, legal form, proof of existence, physical address, directors, beneficial owners)
- Identification of beneficial owners (natural persons ultimately owning or controlling 25%+ of shares/voting rights)
- Purpose and nature of business relationship documentation
- Ongoing transaction monitoring to ensure consistency with customer risk profile
- Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) for PEPs, customers from high-risk jurisdictions, complex/unusual/large transactions, and accounts with unusually high volumes
- Suspicious transaction reporting to Chad's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)
- CDD required at: establishing business relationship; occasional transactions above EUR 1,000 equivalent; suspicion of ML/TF; doubts about prior CDD data
- Primary legislation: Law N°004/PR/2020 (modifying Law N°006/PR/2010) on AML/CFT
Key Restrictions
- BEAC Circular No. 001/GR/2022 of March 28, 2022 explicitly prohibits financial institutions and all economic agents in the CEMAC region from engaging in crypto-asset activities, including holding, exchanging, selling, or purchasing crypto-assets
- Regulation R-2023/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/04 (April 2023) states that any activity relating to virtual assets (including custody) is prohibited unless expressly authorized by the BEAC — no such authorization regime is operational or accessible
- No specific custodial license, qualified custodian definition, segregation rules, insurance requirements, or cold-storage mandates exist for digital assets in Chad
- No pending legislation to enable regulated entities to provide crypto custody services
Key Risks
- Operating a custodial wallet/SaaS in Chad would be a direct violation of BEAC Circular No. 001/GR/2022 and Regulation R-2023/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/04, exposing the operator to enforcement action by BEAC and Chadian authorities
- The BEAC views cryptocurrencies as inconsistent with CEMAC monetary policy and financial stability — regulatory hostility is structural, not a gap
- No legal pathway to obtain authorization for virtual-asset custody activities exists under current rules
- UN and EU sanctions regimes applicable in Chad could create additional compliance exposure for any crypto-related services touching sanctioned jurisdictions or persons
- Even indirect exposure (e.g., serving clients outside Chad who transact in the CEMAC zone) carries reputational and legal risk
Evidence
This verdict synthesizes the following facts. Each fact links to its primary source(s).
Custody of digital assets for third parties is a licensed activity binding in Chad: art. 160 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 lists conservation d'actifs numériques pour le compte de tiers among PSAN services and art. 144 requires a prior COSUMAF agrément, while COSUMAF has adopted no PSAN implementing instruction, fixed no minimum capital and granted zero agréments. Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 separately bars COBAC-supervised institutions from holding or converting crypto-assets.
The CEMAC measure restricting crypto-assets is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, issued by COBAC and binding only COBAC-supervised institutions, and a dedicated PSAN licence exists under art. 144 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF granted by COSUMAF rather than BEAC.
No CEMAC or Chadian instrument sets client-asset segregation rules specific to digital assets; the cantonnement obligation in Règlement n° 04/18/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC du 21 décembre 2018 covers payment-service funds only, and the COSUMAF Règlement Général of 23 May 2023 leaves PSAN custody arrangements to a future implementing instruction.
CEMAC law imposes no insurance or bonding requirement on digital-asset custodians, and custody for third parties remains a permitted PSAN activity under art. 160 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF subject to COSUMAF agrément.
CEMAC law regulates digital-asset custody through the PSAN category rather than a 'qualified custodian' concept: art. 1 of the COSUMAF Règlement Général of 23 May 2023 defines the prestataire de services sur actifs numériques as including conservation d'actifs numériques, and COSUMAF rather than BEAC is the competent authority.
CEMAC legislation on virtual assets is in force rather than pending: Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 applies from 1 August 2022, the COSUMAF Règlement Général of 23 May 2023 from 24 May 2023, and Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 makes virtual-asset service providers assujettis for AML purposes across Chad.
The CEMAC crypto measure is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, which prohibits only COBAC-supervised institutions from acquiring, holding, transferring or converting crypto-assets and leaves private persons in CEMAC free to hold and use them.
Virtual-asset service providers are licensable rather than banned in Chad: art. 144 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF requires a COSUMAF agrément for PSAN activity and art. 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM conditions PSAV activity on prior agrément, with Décision COBAC D-2022/071 closing only the regulated banking channel.
The measure of 6 May 2022 is Décision COBAC D-2022/071, taken by the Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale and addressed to COBAC-supervised credit institutions, microfinance establishments and payment institutions, not a BEAC circular imposing an absolute regional prohibition.
No instrument numbered R-2023/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/04 exists; the CEMAC virtual-asset framework rests on Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 and the COSUMAF Règlement Général of 23 May 2023, both administered by COSUMAF rather than BEAC.
Authorisation for virtual-asset activity in CEMAC comes from COSUMAF under art. 144 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF and the COSUMAF Règlement Général of 23 May 2023, and BEAC has issued no virtual-asset instrument of any kind.
Chad has enacted no national virtual-asset statute and needs none, because CEMAC règlements apply directly in member States: Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 lists virtual-asset service providers among assujettis at article 6(e), imposes a travel rule with a 500 000 FCFA occasional-transaction threshold at article 42 and ten-year record retention at article 39, and the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 defines PSAN and subjects them to COSUMAF agrément.
No BEAC circular restricts cryptocurrency in Chad; the 2022 instrument is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, addressed to COBAC-supervised banks, financial establishments, microfinance institutions, payment institutions and bureaux de change, and the GABAC 2023 mutual evaluation records that virtual-asset service providers were neither regulated nor supervised in Chad at the time of the on-site visit.
Operating a virtual-asset business in Chad requires a COSUMAF agrément under article 144 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 and the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023; COSUMAF has issued no PSAN implementing instruction and no agrément, and Décision COBAC D-2022/071 closes the banking channel, so an unlicensed operator acts outside the law while a lawful licensing route exists on paper.
Chad's AML/CFT obligations rest on directly applicable CEMAC règlements rather than on a national statute: Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 replaced Règlement n° 01/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 11 avril 2016, and Chad's financial intelligence unit, the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financière, was instituted by Décret n° 07-107 du 2 février 2007. Neither a Chadian Loi n° 004/PR/2020 nor a Loi n° 006/PR/2010 on money laundering appears in the GABAC 2023 mutual evaluation of Chad or in any legal register.
Evidence fact td.aml.identification-and-verification-of-customer not found (may have been renamed).
Identification of Beneficial Owners: Take reasonable measures to understand the ownership and control structure of the customer and identify the natural persons who ultimately own or control the customer. This often involves identifying individuals holding 25% or more of shares or voting rights, or otherwise exercising control.
Ongoing Monitoring: Continuously monitor the business relationship, including 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 for higher-risk categories, which would typically include:
Virtual-asset service providers operating in Chad file suspicious transaction reports with the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financière, instituted by Décret n° 07-107 du 2 février 2007, under Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024, which lists PSAV among assujettis at article 6(e) and requires ten-year record retention at article 39.
The CEMAC crypto measure of 6 May 2022 is Décision COBAC D-2022/071, taken by the Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale and not by BEAC, and it binds only COBAC-supervised institutions — banks, financial establishments, microfinance institutions, payment institutions and bureaux de change — barring them from acquiring, holding, transferring, converting or booking crypto-assets and requiring them to detect such operations and report them to COBAC and BEAC. It creates no offence for the Chadian public, so holding, trading, exchanging and mining crypto-assets are not criminalised in Chad; since 20 December 2024 virtual-asset service providers are AML/CFT assujettis under article 6(e) of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM.
Verdict Attribution
- Source:
- AI-Generated · Unreviewed
- AI synthesized:
- 2026-07-13 (deepseek-chat)
- Last updated:
- 2026-07-13
- Confidence:
- high
This verdict was produced by an AI model from the underlying facts. Confirm with counsel before relying on it for material decisions.
No — custodial wallet/SaaS operations are effectively prohibited in Chad (TD) under BEAC Circular No. 001/GR/2022 and Regulation R-2023/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/04, which ban all virtual-asset activities unless expressly authorized by the BEAC, with no operational authorization pathway available.
Questions this verdict aims to answer
- What custody license / qualified-custodian status applies?
- What segregation, insurance, and proof-of-reserves rules apply?
- What AML obligations attach to the SaaS vs the white-label client?