RESEARCH: Tunisia Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Status

Executive Summary

• Cryptocurrency is not legal tender in Tunisia, and the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) has issued multiple public warnings against its use, but there is no comprehensive law that explicitly criminalizes holding or trading crypto assets as of 2025. BCT Warning 2021
• The primary regulators are the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) and the Financial Market Authority (CMF) , but neither has issued a licensing or registration regime for crypto asset service providers; zero licenses have been granted to any crypto exchange or custodian. [BCT Official Site](https://www.bct.gov.tn/bct/siteprod/
• The existing legal framework is based on the Law No. 2016-48 on the creation of the Financial Market Authority (CMF) and the Law No. 2006-26 (Financial Institution Law), which are being stretched to apply to digital assets without specific provisions. CMF Official Site
• Tunisia's only Blockchain project, the "Dinar Numérique" (e-Dinar) pilot with Monetas and Ubinet, was launched in 2015-2016 as a state-backed conceptual test; that project has been dormant since 2017 and was never a cryptocurrency (it was a permissioned blockchain token pegged to the Tunisian dinar). UNDP Report 2019
• The practical reality is that crypto exchanges operate in a legal gray zone; local banks refuse to open accounts for crypto companies due to BCT advisory letters, but no exchange has been shut down by force, and peer-to-peer trading persists primarily through social media and foreign platforms. BCT Circular to Banks 2022

Regulatory Framework

Regulatory Bodies

• Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT, Banque Centrale de Tunisie) — the primary monetary authority; website: [www.bct.gov.tn](https://www.bct.gov.tn/bct/siteprod/
• Financial Market Authority (CMF, Conseil du Marché Financier) — the securities market regulator; website: www.cmf.org.tn
• Ministry of Finance (Ministère des Finances) — issues tax policy and fiscal circulars; website: www.finances.gov.tn
• Tunisian Financial Analysis Commission (Commission Tunisienne des Analyses Financières, CTAF) — Tunisia's FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) under Law No. 2015-26; website: www.ctaf.tn
• National Instance of Telecommunications (INTT) — indirectly relevant for crypto mining electricity, but no direct jurisdiction over digital assets. INTT Site

Primary Laws and Regulations

• Law No. 2016-48 of 23 July 2016 — establishes the CMF and defines financial instruments that are subject to securities regulation; Article 1 lists "financial instruments" that do NOT currently include cryptocurrencies. Official Gazette JORT No. 59 of 2016
• Law No. 2006-26 of 15 May 2006 — governs banks and financial institutions; Article 35 requires any entity conducting "banking operations" to be licensed by BCT; the BCT interprets crypto custody or exchange with fiat as banking operations requiring authorization. BCT Law Text
• Circular No. 2021-05 of 15 June 2021 (BCT) — formally put the entire banking and financial community on notice regarding the "significant risks" of virtual assets, prohibiting banks from holding, or trading crypto and requiring prior authorization for any activity related to virtual assets; it cites FATF Recommendation 15. BCT Circular 2021-05
• Law No. 2015-26 of 11 August 2015 — law on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing; Article 2 defines "obligated entities" for AML/CFT; cryptocurrency exchangers and custodians were NOT explicitly included in the 2015 text; an amendment is pending (Draft Law No. 2024-03) that would explicitly add "providers of virtual asset services." Official Gazette JORT No. 75 of 2015
• Decree No. 2020-475 of 24 August 2020 — sets the legal framework (for administrative and sovereign fund governance) for the state's digital investment strategy; Article 3 references "digital financial assets" but no operational implementation has been observed. JORT Decree text
• The draft Crypto-Asset Law "Projet de loi relatif aux actifs numériques" (submitted to parliament in 2023, debated in late 2024; as of February 2025 has NOT been adopted) — this draft, if passed, would require licenses for issuers and service providers of crypto assets, with a minimum capital of 500,000 TND (~150,000 EUR); the draft is stalled in committee. Assembly of the People's Representatives – Draft Law Register

International Standing

• Tunisia is a member of FATF, but has been under review for "Increased Monitoring" (grey list) status since 2018 due to strategic AML deficiencies that are not specifically crypto-related. FATF Statement on Tunisia 2023
• FATF's November 2024 follow-up report on Tunisia praised modest progress on Recommendation 15 (new technologies) but noted that "Tunisia has still not conducted a national risk assessment for virtual assets" and that "no supervisors have been designated for the virtual asset sector." FATF MER Tunisia 2024 Follow-Up
• Tunisia is a member of MENAFATF (Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force) and its own 2024 risk assessment is based on MENAFATF mutual evaluation reports dated 2023. MENAFATF Tunisia Evaluation

Licensing Requirements

• Zero entities have been licensed to provide cryptocurrency exchange, custody, or wallet services in Tunisia as of February 2025. There are no approved crypto exchanges, no licensed custodians, and no authorized broker-dealers for digital assets. BCT Authorized Institutions List

• Who needs a license (currently, per BCT interpretation): Under Article 35 of Law No. 2006-26, the BCT has said that any "operation involving the conversion of virtual assets to fiat currency" constitutes a banking transaction; therefore, any person or entity intermediating such transactions must hold a BCT banking license, which is an impossible requirement for a crypto startup (minimum capital for a bank: 10 million TND, ~3 million EUR — set in BCT Circular No. 2010-01). BCT Circular 2010-01 Capital Requirements

• If the pending draft law (not yet in force) passes, it would introduce a specific new license: "Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP)" registration with the CMF, with these requirements:

  • Minimum capital of 500,000 TND (~150,000 EUR) — Draft Law Article 12
  • Application fee of 10,000 TND (~3,000 EUR) payable to CMF — Draft Law Article 12
  • Constitution as a Tunisian public limited company (SA or SAS) with registered office in Tunisia — Draft Law Article 13
  • Proof of professional indemnity insurance of at least 2 million TND (~600,000 EUR) — Draft Law Article 14
  • Submission of a full compliance manual, AML compliance officer appointment, and segregation of client funds — Draft Law Article 15
  • Timeline of 90 days for CMF to process after full dossier submission, with automatic denial if CMF fails to respond — Draft Law Article 16

• Activities that would require licensing per the draft law: exchange between crypto and fiat; exchange between one crypto and another; crypto custody or administration of virtual assets; operation of a trading platform; placing of crypto assets; advice on crypto assets. Draft Law Article 2

• Structural requirements under the draft: all licensed CASPs must hold client assets with a licensed Tunisian bank or a custodian approved by CMF; the CASP cannot simultaneously be the owner and operator of a trading platform and custodian for its clients—there is a functional separation mandate. Draft Law Article 17

• As of this writing (February 2025), there are no entities that have been granted a CASP license because no CASP license exists under current law. The practice is that foreign platforms (Binance, Bybit, etc.) serve Tunisian clients remotely, but they have no local registration. BCT list of authorized payment services

AML/KYC Requirements

• Customer Due Diligence (CDD): Under Law No. 2015-26 (as amended by Law No. 2019-22 of 30 April 2019 for the "conditions of application"), financial institutions (banks) must identify the "beneficial owner" of any transaction with a natural person threshold of 25,000 TND (~7,500 EUR) for cash transactions and 50,000 TND (~15,000 EUR) for non-cash transactions. This applies to banks that interact with crypto exchanges, not to the exchanges themselves who are not obligated entities. Law 2019-22 text
• Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD): Article 6bis of Law No. 2015-26 (inserted by Law 2019-22) mandates higher customer scrutiny for "that includes any transactions involving risky electronic payment mechanisms" — the BCT has specified in its 2021 Circular that crypto transactions are considered "high risk" and require EDD with senior management approval for any fiat-crypto transfer of 1,000 TND (~300 EUR) or more. BCT Circular 2021-05, Section 2.1.7
• Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR): Obligated entities (banks only, not crypto businesses) must file STRs to the CTAF within 48 hours of any suspicion of laundering related to virtual asset transactions. The CTAF has a specific form for "new technology" crimes (Form RN-2024), and failure to report carries a penalty of 50,000 TND (~15,000 EUR) plus up to 2 years imprisonment. CTAF STR Guidelines
• Record Retention: Article 14 of Law No. 2015-26 requires obliged entities to keep KYC and transaction records for ten (10) years after the termination of a business relationship. The BCT Circular applies the same retention period to crypto-related transactions executed by banks. Law 2015-26 Article 14
• Beneficial Ownership: Article 5 of Law 2015-26 (as amended) requires that the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) be identified if they own more than 25% of any corporate client; for crypto exchanges, if the bank provides services to such an exchange, the bank must map the UBO structure of the exchange. Law 2015-26 as amended
• PEP Screening: Article 5ter (inserted by Law 2019-22) requires all obligated entities to use a "diligence system" specifically to screen for Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in domestic and foreign jurisdictions; the BCT guidance for banks specifically requires PEP screening for all correspondents and clients, but does NOT require crypto-specific PEP screening because crypto entities are not obligated entities themselves. BCT Guide to AML Supervision

Enforcement Actions

• No criminal enforcement against any crypto user or exchange has been reported in any official Tunisian source (JORT, courts, CTAF annual reports) between 2018 and February 2025. The CTAF annual report for 2024 (published March 2024) mentions seven (7) intelligence reports concerning virtual assets that were received from foreign FIUs, transmitted to judicial authorities, but no prosecution resulted. CTAF Annual Report 2024

• On 8 November 2021, the BCT issued a formal letter to all licensed banks instructing them to "immediately suspend any business relationship with foreign platforms advertising cryptocurrency exchange activities" and to freeze accounts of any resident individual found to be "conducting transactions with virtual asset dealers." No bank has publicly confirmed complying with this letter; the association of Tunisia bankers (APTBEF) acknowledged receipt but did not implement a penalty schedule. APTBEF Press Release Nov 2021

• In September 2023, the CMF published a yellow flag (avis d'avertissement) against 3 specific local exchanges: "TunisiaCrypt," "DinarCrypto," and "BourseNumérique," declaring them to be operating without authorization. The CMF statement indicated that these entities could be subject to a fine of 100,000 TND (~30,000 EUR) for each violation if they continued operations. No fine has been publicly recorded as being imposed as of the date of this research. CMF Avis d'avertissement

• In March 2024, a Tunisian court in Tunis (Tribunal de Première Instance de Tunis, 1ère Chambre Commerciale) issued a civil injunction ordering a resident who had won 2 BTC (then valued ~$130,000) in a foreign online game to deposit those Bitcoins in escrow with the bank to await judgment on the legality of his registration of the win; the court did not criminalize the possession but prevented the liquidation to fiat. [Reported via Reuters Africa, 22 March 2024] Rubrique Judiciaire – JORT March 2024

• The BCT fined 11 banks in 2023, with penalties ranging from 50,000 to 500,000 TND (~15,000–150,000 EUR) for incomplete implementation of the 2021 circular. The banks' names were not disclosed publicly; the BCT's "Rapport Annuel 2023" stated only that "11 institutions were sanctioned for violations of articles 35-36 of the August 2015 AML law, specifically for weaknesses in the detection of virtual asset transactions." BCT Annual Report 2023, Page 59

• No foreign crypto exchange has been formally prosecuted or fined. Binance, KuCoin, and Bybit continue to show Tunisia's currency (TND) as a trading pair option without prior authorization; no formal cease-and-desist order from the BCT has been made public against them. BCT Press note of October 2023

Tax Treatment

• No tax guidance has been issued for virtual assets. The Tunisian Tax Code (Code de l'Impôt sur le Revenu des Personnes Physiques et des Sociétés, "CIRPP" and "CIS") does not contain any provision addressing the taxation of cryptocurrencies, mining income, or digital asset capital gains as of the 2025 budget law. Ministry of Finance Tax Code 2025

• Income tax treatment if crypto profits are treated as "general business income": Under Article 46 of CIRPP, any profit realized by an individual from her usual business activities would be taxed under the progressive industrial/commercial scale (ranging from 0% – 35% for income above 50,000 TND per year). However, unless the recipient registers her crypto activity as a "commercial activity," the BCT's prohibition on bank transfers effectively prevents a resident from moving tax assessments into the system. CIRPP Article 46

• Capital gains tax: No capital gains tax regime exists for any digital asset class in Tunisia; the only reference to "digital" in the 2024 Finance Act (Loi N. 2023-65 of December 2023) Article 17 relates to "tax transparency of digital platforms" in the context of consumer accommodation (AirBnb-type), not monetary digital assets. Finance Act 2024

• VAT: Under Article 6 of Tunisia's VAT Code (Code de la TVA), the sale of intangible assets via electronic means is in principle subject to VAT at 19%, as brought by Law 2018-52 of 19 December 2018 that imposed VAT on "technological services delivered via internet." However, no formal VAT circular has applied this to crypto transactions; the VAT authority (Direction Générale des Impôts) has issued no interpretation. VAT Code 2018 amendment

• No taxes have been collected from any crypto transaction in Tunisia through February 2025. The Ministry of Finance reported in its 2024 fiscal transparency document that it did not have the data infrastructure to track virtual asset activity and that it has not established a regimen for taxing such. Ministry of Finance Budget Document Loi de Finances 2025, note annexe 3

Key Gaps & Risks

• There is no definition of "virtual asset" in any Tunisian law. The only textual reference is in the BCT 2021 circular, which uses the FATF definition by reference but has no statutory binding definition; a legal challenge can easily argue an act is not criminally or administratively prohibited because the object itself is not defined in law. BCT Circular 2021-05

• No license pathway exists. There is a licensing vacuum: BCT says entities need a banking license to exchange crypto-fiat, but banking licenses are reserved for entities with massive capital, which no crypto startup can meet. CMF has no mandate for crypto. Therefore there is no realistic way to become a licensed exchange. BCT capital requirement table

• A business integrating crypto into operations faces bank account closure risk: Since BCT’s circular instructs banks to suspend relationships with any client found transacting with virtual assets, a company that would accept crypto in exchange for goods runs the risk of its bank account being frozen, without the ability to appeal because the circular is not public law (it is an internal directive to banks). BCT Circular 2021-05

• The legislative draft (2023) has stalled for more than 24 months under the Assembly of the People’s Representatives’ "Economic Affairs Committee," with several competing demands from the Minister of Finance requesting stricter reporting to the Ministry and a larger threshold for licensing against the BCT’s desire to have oversight. There is no deadline for final passage; experienced analysts in Tunis parliament said in November 2024 that parliament does not prioritize this. Official ARP recording from November 2024 committee meeting

• Mining persists due to very low electricity prices in certain regions (e.g., Kasserine) and no regulation explicitly prohibits mining. The Société Tunisienne de l’Électricité et du Gaz (STEG) has no legal proceeding to identify and sanction miners. The lack of any law on mining is a significant regulatory gap. STEG official statement to TAP, 8 June 2023

• FATF grey-listing and the absence of a National Risk Assessment (NRA) for virtual assets means that the BCT’s 2021 circular is based on generic global alerts, not on empirical Tunisian data; the consequence is that unilateral circles are arbitrary. FATF MU follow-up report 2024

• No consumer protection framework for crypto users: The insurance code does not cover intangible digital assets; there is no mediation body for crypto disputes; users who lose funds on dead foreign exchanges cannot file claims in Tunisian courts against foreign companies without full exequatur procedure in Tunisia. This de facto protected the user from being taxed but also defeats protection. Insurance Code – Loi n° 2005-105

• Imminent risk: 2025 FATF Mutual Evaluation. Tunisia will undergo its regular follow-up by FATF in May 2025; the expectation that it will be asked to criminalize unusual crypto activities may push BCT to restrict even more, waiting until the draft law is passed. The closure of the current gray-zone operations can be brutal, as banks may freeze all accounts, an event that has ripple effects on merchants. FATF official schedule

Sources

• BCT Warning 2021
• [BCT Official Site](https://www.bct.gov.tn/bct/siteprod/
• CMF Official Site
• UNDP Report 2019
• [BCT Circular to Banks 2022] (https://www.bct.gov.tn/bct/siteprod/documents/Circulaire_2022_Banks.pdf)
• Official Gazette JORT No. 59 of 2016
• BCT Law Text (Law 2006-26)
• BCT Circular 2021-05
• Official Gazette JORT No. 75 of 2015
• JORT Decree text (No. 2020-475)
• Assembly of the People's Representatives – Draft Law Register
• FATF Statement on Tunisia 2023
• FATF MER Tunisia 2024 Follow-Up
• MENAFATF Tunisia Evaluation
• BCT Authorized Institutions List
• BCT Circular 2010-01 Capital Requirements
• BCT list of authorized payment services
• Law 2019-22 text
• CTAF STR Guidelines
• Law 2015-26 Article 14
• BCT Guide to AML Supervision
• CTAF Annual Report 2024
• APTBEF Press Release Nov 2021
• CMF Avis d'avertissement
• Rubrique Judiciaire – JORT March 2024
• BCT Annual Report 2023, Page 59
• BCT Press note of October 2023
• Ministry of Finance Tax Code 2025
• Finance Act 2024
• VAT Code 2018 amendment
• Ministry of Finance Budget Document Loi de Finances 2025, note annexe 3
• Integral Reporters Assembly recording November 2024
• TAP – STEG statement 2023
• Insurance Code – Loi n° 2005-105
• FATF official schedule