Crypto-funded debit card in Uganda

Bank of Uganda Circular (N. 3 of 2021): While direct link to the circular might change, news articles widely reported on it and often link to scans of the original.

Bank of Uganda Warns Supervised Entities Against Dealing in Cryptocurrencies - Techweez (reporting on the circular)

Uganda's Central Bank Orders Financial Institutions to Cease All Crypto Transactions - Bitcoin.com News

Bank of Uganda reiterates its tough stance on cryptocurrency use - Africanews (2022)

The Bank of Uganda has not licensed any institution to sell cryptocurrencies or to facilitate trade in cryptocurrencies, and its Governor states that virtual assets are not legal tender in Uganda and that participation is at one's own risk.

Uganda's payment-services statute is the National Payment Systems Act, 2020 (Act 15 of 2020, Cap. 59), assented on 29 July 2020 and commenced on 4 September 2020, supplemented by the National Payment Systems Regulations, 2021 gazetted on 5 March 2021; the Act carries no reference to virtual assets, cryptocurrency or digital currency.

National Payment Systems Regulations, 2021: (Often published as a statutory instrument, typically available via the Uganda Legal Information Institute or Ministry of Finance archives).

Current Situation: No specific license. Many operate in a grey area.

Potential Interpretation: If an exchange facilitates transactions between fiat currency and virtual assets (or vice versa), it could theoretically be deemed to be performing functions similar to a money remitter or payment service provider. In such a scenario, they might be required to obtain a Payment Service Provider (PSP) license or a Payment System Operator (PSO) license under the National Payment Systems Act, 2020, regulated by the Bank of Uganda.

Uganda's Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2013 (Act 12 of 2013), consolidated as Chapter 118, imposes its obligations on accountable persons, defined as any person listed in its Second Schedule, and section 18 establishes the Financial Intelligence Authority; the Act reaches virtual asset service providers by express designation rather than by interpretation, because the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment of Second Schedule) Instrument, 2020 (Statutory Instrument 136 of 2020) added virtual asset service providers to that Schedule with effect from 27 November 2020, and they stand as paragraph 16 of Schedule 2 in the Financial Intelligence Authority's signed registration guidelines of January 2024, which require every accountable person to register with the Authority.

Uganda's Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, 2015 are Statutory Instrument 75 of 2015, made on 24 December 2015 under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2013, and they do carry the implementing detail the claim describes: Part V, regulations 13 to 27, sets out customer due diligence and verification for natural persons, foreign nationals, entities, partnerships and trustees; regulation 42 requires an accountable person to keep transaction and due-diligence records for a minimum of five years from completion of the relevant business or transaction; and regulation 39 governs suspicious transaction reporting to the Financial Intelligence Authority, with regulation 39(3) additionally requiring reports of cash transactions above one thousand currency points.

Uganda has no Financial Intelligence Authority Act, of 2013 or of any year; the Uganda Legal Information Institute's consolidated index of legislation carries no such title. The Financial Intelligence Authority is established by section 18 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2013 (Act 12 of 2013), Chapter 118, which reads 'There is established a Financial Intelligence Authority', and the Authority's functions of receiving, analysing and disseminating financial intelligence flow from that Act rather than from a separate statute.

Evidence fact ug.aml.identification-and-verification not found (may have been renamed).

Individual Customers: Obtain and verify the customer's full name, permanent address, date of birth, national identification number (e.g., National ID, passport), and other relevant identification documents.

Beneficial Ownership: Identify and verify the identity of the beneficial owner(s) – the natural person(s) who ultimately own or control the customer, or the natural person(s) on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted.

Purpose and Intended Nature of Business Relationship: Understand the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship or the transaction.

Ongoing Monitoring: Continuously monitor the business relationship and transactions undertaken by the customer to ensure they are consistent with the VASP's knowledge of the customer, their business, and risk profile, including the source of funds where necessary.

Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD): Apply EDD for higher-risk customers, transactions, or business relationships. This includes:

Report Suspicious Transactions: Report any transaction (attempted or completed) where there is a reasonable suspicion that the funds involved are proceeds of crime, or are linked to money laundering, terrorist financing, or proliferation financing.

Regulation 39 of Uganda's Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, 2015 (Statutory Instrument 75 of 2015) requires an accountable person to report a suspicious transaction to the Financial Intelligence Authority as soon as is practicable and in any case not later than forty-eight hours, on the prescribed form, while section 9(2) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2013 sets the statutory limit as without delay and not later than two working days from the date the suspicion was formed, so the forty-eight-hour figure is the regulation's and the two-working-day figure is the Act's.

No Tipping-Off: Not disclose to the customer or any third party that a suspicious transaction report has been made or that a money laundering investigation is being conducted.

Customer Identification Records: All records obtained during CDD processes (identification documents, verification records, beneficial ownership information).

Transaction Records: Records of all domestic and international transactions, including the amount, currency, date, type of transaction, and parties involved. For virtual assets, this would include wallet addresses, transaction hashes, and amounts.

Uganda's Anti-Money Laundering Act 2013 s. 7(3) requires records to be kept for a minimum period of ten years from the date on which the evidence of identity of a person was obtained, the date of any transaction or correspondence, or the date on which the account is closed or the business relationship ceases, whichever is the later.

The Bank of Uganda's operative crypto instrument is a circular of 29 April 2022 issued under sections 13(1)(b) and (f) of the National Payment Systems Act 2020, which direct the central bank's power to act against a licensee that fails to adhere to its directives or endangers financial stability; the circular binds Bank of Uganda licensees and supervised financial institutions, names no stablecoin, and creates no statutory prohibition on issuing, holding or trading stablecoins in Uganda.

Bank of Uganda Circular No. 008 of 2022 – Warning Against Dealing in Cryptocurrencies:

Entity Targeted: All Regulated Financial Institutions (e.g., Commercial Banks, Payment Service Providers, Microfinance Deposit-taking Institutions). Violation Type: N/A (this was a pre-emptive prohibition, not an action against a prior violation by a crypto firm). Penalty Amount: N/A (the circular itself did not impose a fine on a crypto entity, but implied penalties for regulated entities that failed to comply with the directive). Outcome: The BoU issued a circular directing all supervised financial institutions to cease facilitating transactions related to virtual currencies. This effectively cut off cryptocurrency exchanges and related businesses from accessing formal banking services in Uganda. The BoU cited concerns over consumer protection, money laundering, terrorism financing, and the lack of specific regulations. This directive has made it extremely challenging, if not impossible, for crypto businesses to operate formally within the Ugandan financial system.

Entity Targeted: The general public and unregulated virtual asset service providers (implicitly). Violation Type: N/A (warnings about risks, not specific violations). Penalty Amount: N/A. Outcome: These warnings emphasize that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender, are not regulated by the BoU, and carry high risks of fraud, money laundering, and loss of funds. The FIA has also highlighted AML/CFT risks. The lack of a specific licensing and regulatory framework for VASPs means that any entity operating with virtual assets does so without official recognition or oversight, increasing their operational risk and exposure to potential future actions should a framework be introduced. This environment largely prevents formal enforcement actions against VASPs for regulatory non-compliance because there aren't specific VASP regulations to violate yet, other than general financial laws (e.g., fraud).

Uganda has no crypto-asset tax provision, and a resident individual's gain on disposing of crypto held outside a business is not added to other income: the Income Tax Act, Chapter 338, exempts any capital gain that is not included in business income, other than a gain derived from the sale of shares in a private limited company, and Uganda levies no separate capital gains tax.

A Ugandan company's gain on disposing of crypto held as a business asset is included in business income and taxed at the 30% corporate rate, because the Income Tax Act, Chapter 338, imposes no separate capital gains tax and gains on disposal of non-depreciable business assets fall into business income; no crypto-specific provision produces that result.

Services Related to Crypto: If a business provides services related to cryptocurrency (e.g., exchange services, wallet services, advisory services), the fees charged for these services would likely be subject to VAT. For example, the commission charged by a crypto exchange for facilitating a trade would probably be VATable.

Income and gains from cryptocurrency dealings are chargeable in Uganda only under the general charge of the Income Tax Act, Cap. 338, where gains on the disposal of a business asset enter business income under section 18(1)(a), and returns are furnished under section 16 of the Tax Procedures Code Act, Cap. 343; the form cited as "ITF1" is not a Uganda Revenue Authority return.