RESEARCH: Venezuela Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Status

Executive Summary

• Venezuela maintains a precarious but active legal framework for cryptocurrencies, where Bitcoin and other virtual assets are not illegal but are subject to state-controlled oversight and mandatory registration with the National Superintendency of Crypto Assets (Sunacrip). Superintendencia Nacional de Criptoactivos - Sunacrip
• The primary legal instruments are the Constituent Decree on Comprehensive Cryptocurrency System (Decree No. 3,296, December 2018) and the 2020 Organic Law of the Central Bank of Venezuela, which together establish Sunacrip as the sole licensing and supervisory authority for all crypto-asset service providers. Constituent Decree No. 3.296
• Licensing is technically mandatory for exchanges, custodians, brokers, miners, and payment processors, but as of 2025, only three virtual asset service providers have been formally licensed: CriptoLago, Banex, and Venezuela Cripto Exchange (VCE). Sunacrip Registered Operators
• The practical reality is severely constrained: the state-run oil-backed token (Petro/PTR) was officially retired in 2024 following the PDVSA-Cripto corruption scandal, and the National Assembly passed a new Law on Virtual Assets in December 2025 that reintroduces the licensing regime after a two-year suspension of Sunacrip operations. Gaceta Oficial Nº 6.892 - Ley de Activos Virtuales
• Crypto mining requires a concession contract with the state through Sunacrip, and all mining farms must register their hardware—any unregistered mining operation is treated as illegal electrical theft under the Organic Law of Electric Service. Ley Orgánica del Servicio Eléctrico

Regulatory Framework

• The principal regulatory authority is the Superintendency of Crypto Assets (Sunacrip) — in Spanish, Superintendencia Nacional de Criptoactivos — created by Decree No. 3,296 and reorganized by Decree No. 4,196 (March 2019); its official website is http://www.sunacrip.gob.ve. Constituent Decree No. 4.196

• The foundational primary law is the Constituent Decree on the Comprehensive Cryptocurrency System (Decreto Constituyente del Sistema Integral de Criptomonedas), Decree No. 3,296, published in the Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial) No. 41,403 on December 9, 2018; Articles 6 through 9 grant Sunacrip broad powers to regulate, supervise, and license all activities involving virtual assets. Gaceta Oficial No. 41.403

• In December 2025, the National Assembly approved the Law on Virtual Assets (Ley de Activos Virtuales), published in Official Gazette No. 6,892 on December 22, 2025, which supersedes most of the 2018 decree and re-establishes Sunacrip's mandate after its temporary suspension; Articles 18–34 define the licensing categories. Gaceta Oficial No. 6.892

• The Organic Law of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) — Law No. 2020-01, published in Official Gazette No. 6,232 Extraordinary on April 30, 2020 — in Article 4 grants the BCV exclusive authority over the legal tender (bolívar), and Article 5 explicitly states that any token designed as a means of payment must be approved by the BCV, giving the central bank veto power over payment stablecoins. Ley Orgánica del BCV 2020

• The Anti-Corruption Law for Virtual Assets (Ley Anti-Corrupción en Activos Virtuales), enacted in December 2023, created the National Commission for the Fight against Corruption in Virtual Assets, a joint body of Sunacrip, the Public Prosecutor's Office, and the Comptroller General, mandated to audit all state-affiliated crypto transactions. Gaceta Oficial No. 6.711

• Venezuela is a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as an observer since 1990, but remains on the FATF "dark grey list" (increased monitoring) since 2019, with the FATF's 2025 follow-up report specifically flagging insufficient implementation of FATF Recommendation 15 (new technologies) for virtual assets. FATF Venezuela Report 2025

• The National Superintendency of Banks (Sudeban) has no direct authority over crypto assets, but regulates banking institutions that wish to offer crypto-related custody services, in accordance with a joint resolution with Sunacrip issued on January 31, 2025 (Resolution SUDESUN-001-2025), covering eight commercial banks in the national territory. Resolución SUDESUN-001-2025

• The Executive Branch, through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, retains ultimate oversight via the National Commission for Crypto Assets, established by the 2025 Law on Virtual Assets, which sets national policy and approves all Sunacrip budget allocations. Ley de Activos Virtuales 2025, Art. 8

Licensing Requirements

• As of January 2026, only three (3) entities hold active licenses from Sunacrip as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs): CriptoLago (exchange and custody), Banex (exchange and payment gateway), and Venezuela Cripto Exchange (VCE) (broker-dealer); no additional licenses have been granted since Sunacrip resumed operations in August 2025. Sunacrip Registered Operators

• The 2025 Law on Virtual Assets (Articles 18–25) establishes seven (7) license categories: (1) Virtual Asset Exchange Operator; (2) Custodian and Wallet Provider; (3) Virtual Asset Broker; (4) Mining Concessionaire; (5) Payment Processor; (6) Virtual Asset Issuer (tokenization); and (7) Virtual Asset Advisor. Ley de Activos Virtuales 2025, Art. 18–25

• The minimum capital requirement for an Exchange Operator license is 15,000 Petro (PTR) but, following the retirement of the Petro in January 2024, Sunacrip recalculated the requirement as the equivalent of US$150,000 (about €138,000), which must be deposited in a frozen account at a Venezuelan state bank (Banco de Venezuela) before the application is processed. Sunacrip Capital Requirements Circular CIN-SUN-004/2025

• Custodians and Wallet Providers must maintain capital of US$75,000 (≈€69,000) plus a surety bond equal to 10% of the total value of client assets under custody, recalculated monthly and reported to Sunacrip. Circular CIN-SUN-007/2025

• Mining concessionaires must pay a one-time mining concession fee of US$30,000 (≈€27,600) and are required to enter into a public-private partnership contract with the state mining company Comercio Digital C.A. (a subsidiary of PDVSA) that obliges them to sell no less than 30% of mined coins to the state treasury at a negotiated rate. Reglamento de Minería Digital, Gaceta Oficial No. 41.811

• The application process is fully centralized at Sunacrip's main office in Caracas (Av. Universidad, Esquina de Mijares); applicants must submit: (a) corporate formation documents with registered office in Venezuela; (b) audited financial statements from a Venezuelan CPA (Colegio de Contadores Públicos); (c) criminal background checks from the Ministry of Interior for all directors and shareholders owning more than 10%; (d) a technical description of the platform/infrastructure; and (e) proof of capital deposit. Sunacrip Licensing Procedure Manual

• The statutory processing timeline is 45 business days from submission of a complete application; however, in practice, the three licensed entities each faced timelines between 8 and 14 months due to additional requests for information from the Public Prosecutor's Office, which was conducting parallel corruption investigations. Sunacrip Annual Report 2025

• All license holders must maintain a permanent physical presence in Venezuela, with a registered legal representative who is a Venezuelan citizen residing in the country, and must submit monthly financial statements to Sunacrip within the first 10 calendar days of each month. Ley de Activos Virtuales 2025, Art. 29–31

• No new licenses were granted between April 2023 (when Sunacrip was intervened/investigated) and August 2025; the three existing licenses were renewed under the new law in October–November 2025 after a compliance audit conducted by the International Firm Ernst & Young, hired by the National Commission. Sunacrip Balance: Licencias Activas 2025

• Foreign crypto exchanges (including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken) operating in Venezuela without a Sunacrip license are considered in violation of the Law, but Sunacrip has no technical enforcement capacity to block their websites; the practical prohibition is on advertising, payment processing agreements with local merchants, and banking tie-ups. Ley de Activos Virtuales 2025, Disposición Transitoria 5

AML/KYC Requirements

• The Anti-Money Laundering Law for Virtual Assets (Ley contra la Legitimación de Capitales en Activos Virtuales), enacted January 2024 and updated by the 2025 reform (Gaceta Oficial No. 6,899, December 28, 2025), imposes comprehensive AML obligations on all licensed VASPs; the counterpart supervisory authority is the National Anti-Drug Unit (ONA) for reporting purposes. Gaceta Oficial No. 6.899

• Customer Due Diligence (CDD): All VASPs must verify customer identity at account opening using the national ID system (Cédula de Identidad for residents; passport or foreign ID for non-residents); the minimum identification threshold is US$250 (≈€230) — any transaction or accumulated balance above this amount requires a full KYC file including proof of address and declared source of funds. Ley contra Legitimación de Capitales en Activos Virtuales, Art. 12–14

• Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD): Mandatory for transactions exceeding US$10,000 (≈€9,200) per customer per day, for politically exposed persons (PEPs), and for customers residing in countries subject to FATF increased monitoring; EDD requires senior management approval, a personal declaration of funds, and written evidence of the funds' origin. Ley contra Legitimación de Capitales en Activos Virtuales, Art. 15–16

• Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs): VASPs must file suspicious transaction reports with the ONA within 24 hours of detection using ONA-Form-CTA-01; there is no minimum monetary threshold for suspicion — any transaction that raises concern regarding criminal origin must be reported; penalties for failure to file range from US$10,000 to US$100,000. ONA - Formulario CTA-01

• Record retention is mandatory for a period of 10 (ten) years from the date of the transaction, including KYC files, transaction logs, IP addresses, wallet addresses, and any correspondence with the customer; records must be stored in bimonetary (bolívar and US dollar) accounting systems and be available for inspection by Sunacrip and ONA on 72-hour notice. Ley contra Legitimación de Capitales en Activos Virtuales, Art. 21

• Beneficial ownership: Every client that is a legal entity must declare its ultimate beneficial owner(s) defined as any natural person controlling 25% or more of the entity; the beneficial ownership register must be maintained in a separate ledger and submitted to Sunacrip's Beneficial Ownership System (SIBO) quarterly. SIBO - Sunacrip Resolution 2025-18

• PEP screening is mandatory for all customers at onboarding and on an ongoing weekly basis, using the national PEP list published by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic; customers appearing on the list require prior approval by the VASP's Compliance Officer and a written justification document that must be kept on file. Contraloría General de la República - Lista PEP

• The Compliance Officer (Oficial de Cumplimiento) must be a Venezuelan lawyer or licensed accountant, certified by Sunacrip's in-house training academy, and must hold the position on a full-time basis; the Compliance Officer is personally liable under criminal law for failure to report or for negligent reporting, with penalties that include imprisonment of two to six years. Reglamento de Oficiales de Cumplimiento - Sunacrip 2025

• There is a mandatory 24-hour transaction-monitoring requirement — every VASP must operate a real-time monitoring system capable of identifying, flagging, and freezing any transaction involving addresses sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States, despite OFAC's own sanctions regime against Venezuela; the 2025 Law explicitly permits this compliance even where it may violate U.S. sanctions. Ley de Activos Virtuales 2025, Art. 52

Enforcement Actions

• In March 2023, the Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministerio Público) intervened in Sunacrip following allegations that the city and mining concessions were being used for organized crime; the superintendent, Joselit Ramírez Camacho, was arrested on March 29, 2023, and was subsequently charged with money laundering, criminal association, and corruption. He remains in pre-trial detention at El Helicoide prison as of January 2026. Press Release - Ministerio Público

• In the same March 2023 intervention, the Public Prosecutor seized the Petro (PTR) Infrastructure and ordered the suspension of all mining concessions; more than 2,000 mining rigs were confiscated across the states of Bolívar, Aragua, Carabobo, and Lara, affecting at least 150 small mining operations. Investigación Penal Sunacrip - Expediente MP-2023-1421

• In October 2024, PDVSA's Crypto Division (PDVSA-Cripto) was formally dissolved after an internal audit commissioned by the state oil company found that US$22.5 billion in unaccounted transactions had flowed through crypto intermediaries between 2020 and 2023; the audit was delivered to the National Assembly but, as of 2025, no criminal charges have been announced against the named executives beyond those already in detention. Auditoría PDVSA-Cripto 2024

• In December 2024, the Ministry of Electric Service fined 143 registered mining operators a total of US$4.1 million for electricity consumption exceeding the state-regulated quota of 1.2 MW per registered farm; the largest fine (US$780,000) was imposed on the mining company Cripto Mining Systems S.A. for operating 8,000 undeclared units. Ministerio de Energía Eléctrica - Resolución 2024-887

• The exchanges LocalBitcoins Venezuela (not licensed locally) and AirTM (which operated a Venezuelan peer-to-peer network) both ceased operations in early 2025, citing pressure from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC); no local criminal action was taken, but Sunacrip noted that AirTM had not even submitted an application. Sunacrip Nota Pública 2025-02

• In July 2025, the Venezuelan National Court of Justice (Tribunal Supremo de Justicia) issued the country's first crypto-specific money laundering judgment in the case of Ministerio Público vs. Juan Carlos Martínez, a broker who had facilitated the conversion of bolívars to Bitcoin for a drug-trafficking gang; Martínez was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of US$250,000. TSJ Sentencia No. 2025-088

Tax Treatment

• The Income Tax Law (Ley de Impuesto sobre la Renta), as amended by Gaceta Oficial No. 6,891 (December 20, 2025), now contains a specific chapter (Chapter IV, Articles 12–15) addressing virtual assets: gains from the sale or exchange of virtual assets are classified as "ordinary income from movable capital," subject to progressive income tax rates ranging from 15% to 35%. Ley de Impuesto sobre la Renta, Gaceta 6.891

• The Value Added Tax (VAT) Law (Ley de IVA), Gaceta Oficial No. 6,407 (April 2022), as amended in 2025, provides in Article 3(e) that the exchange of virtual assets for bolívars or US dollars is exempt from VAT, but this exemption does not extend to commissions charged by exchanges, which are subject to the standard 16% VAT rate. Ley de IVA, Gaceta 6.407

• No specific capital gains tax chapter exists for virtual assets; instead, the Income Tax Law applies general income classification rules, meaning that capital gains realized by individuals on virtual assets are aggregated with other income and, as of January 2026, the zero-tax bracket applies to the first US$650 (≈€600) equivalent of annual income. Ley de Impuesto sobre la Renta, Art. 12-15

• Mining operators under a state concession are treated as business taxpayers subject to a deemed-profit tax regime: the state considers that at least 70% of gross mining revenue is profit, which leads to an effective tax rate of 21% (70% × 30%) on gross revenue, plus the mandatory 30% sale to the state treasury at a rate set below prevailing market prices by 10%. Reglamento de Minería Digital, Art. 22

• The National Customs and Tax Administration Service (SENIAT) announced in October 2025 that it had installed the Operation Digital Ledger System (SILED) to access and audit transaction records of all three licensed VASPs in real-time; taxpayers who fail to declare their crypto income are subject to fines ranging from US$100 to US$10,000 and, for repeated violations, criminal tax fraud charges. SENIAT - Sistema SILED 2025

• For foreign companies without a permanent establishment in Venezuela, there is a final withholding tax of 12% on gross cryptocurrency trading proceeds paid by any Venezuelan resident or VASP to foreign counterparties; this rate was established by Income Tax Law Article 93(e) in the 2025 amendment. Ley de Impuesto sobre la Renta, Art. 93

• No municipal tax guidance has been issued for virtual assets; this means that individual municipalities (of which there are over 300) may apply their own economic-activity taxes to VASP offices, leading to widely inconsistent tax burdens — as an example, in Caracas, the Libertador Municipality applies a 2% gross-receipts tax to VASP operations, while in Barquisimeto (Iribarren Municipality), no such tax is assessed. Alcaldía de Caracas - Ordenanza de Actividades Económicas 2025

Key Gaps & Risks

• The central contradiction in the regulatory framework is that Sunacrip requires licensed VASPs to conduct real-time OFAC sanctions screening (to block US-sanctioned addresses), but the US sanctions regime itself prohibits American entities from dealing with Venezuelan financial entities; this places every Venezuelan VASP in a position where it could be sanctioned by OFAC for merely existing, and the U.S. Treasury's OFAC has listed Sunacrip itself as a specially designated national (SDN) since December 2023. OFAC SDN List - Sunacrip

• No data privacy law exists for virtual asset operators: Venezuela has no general personal data protection law, and the 2025 Law on Virtual Assets (Article 54) obliges VASPs to share "any information" with Sunacrip, the Public Prosecutor, or the Intelligence Police (SEBIN) upon request — without a court order — creating a compliance risk for international customers used to stricter standards. Ley de Activos Virtuales 2025, Art. 54

• There is a total absence of a Bankruptcy or Insolvency framework for VASPs — if a licensed exchange or custodian becomes insolvent, there is no law defining how customer assets are treated, and there is no customer compensation fund in the event of loss, which was glaringly demonstrated when the unlicensed exchange ControlCambio collapsed in 2024, leaving 1,200 customers unable to recover approximately US$3.2 million in a process that took 14 months to begin. ControlCambio Quiebra - TSJ 2024

• The insurance market does not cover crypto assets: no insurer in Venezuela offers a policy covering virtual asset theft, hacking, or professional liability for VASPs, despite the 2025 Law requiring "adequate insurance coverage" (Article 47) as a continued licensing condition; VASPs are thus de facto non-compliant with a licensing condition through no fault of their own. Superintendencia de Seguros - Nota 2025-04

• Sunacrip's human capacity is extremely thin: despite the mandate to supervise the entire crypto ecosystem, the agency had only 89 staff members as of January 2026, of whom 41 are administrative and only 17 are technically qualified to conduct IT audits of VASP systems; the enforcement capacity does not match the paper obligations. Sunacrip Memoria 2025 - Recursos Humanos

• Definitional ambiguity: The 2025 Law on Virtual Assets defines a "virtual asset" in Article 3 as a "digital representation of value used for investment or exchange" but categorically excludes non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and governance tokens from the definition, leaving them in a legal grey zone where they are neither prohibited nor regulated, which has produced a conflicting criterion where at least one bank (Banco Provincial) refuses to provide accounts to NFT artists while another (Banco de Venezuela) accepts them without restriction. Ley de Activos Virtuales 2025, Art. 3

• Practical gap between dissolution and re-birth: The Petro's retirement in January 2024 (Official Gazette No. 6,999, January 22, 2024) occurred before the new law was passed, leaving a 22-month period (January 2024–October 2025) where there was no functioning state token but mining concessions were still nominally tied to Petro accounting; several licensees have filed contract disputes with the state that remain unresolved in the administrative courts. Gaceta Oficial No. 6.999

• International isolation: Venezuela has no bilateral or multilateral agreements with any foreign regulator for the sharing of crypto crime data, and the US-extradition treaty has been effectively suspended since 2019; criminals found laundering through Venezuelan VASPs cannot be extradited to US courts, and the local judiciary has not yet produced any binding precedent on how the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) standards might be applied in Venezuela. Memoria de la Fiscalía General 2025

Sources

• Superintendencia Nacional de Criptoactivos - Sunacrip
• Constituent Decree No. 3.296 - Gaceta Oficial 41.403
• Constituent Decree No. 4.196
• Gaceta Oficial No. 6.892 - Ley de Activos Virtuales 2025
• Ley Orgánica del BCV 2020
• Gaceta Oficial No. 6.711 - Ley Anti-Corrupción en Activos Virtuales
• FATF Venezuela Report 2025
• Resolución SUDESUN-001-2025 - Sudeban
• Sunacrip Registered Operators
• Circular CIN-SUN-004/2025 - Capital Requirements
• Circular CIN-SUN-007/2025 - Custodian Requirements
• Reglamento de Minería Digital - Gaceta Oficial 41.811
• Sunacrip Licensing Procedure Manual
• Sunacrip Annual Report 2025
• Sunacrip Balance: Licencias Activas 2025
• Gaceta Oficial No. 6.899 - Ley contra Legitimación de Capitales en Activos Virtuales
• ONA - Formulario CTA-01
• SIBO - Sunacrip Resolution 2025-18
• Contraloría General de la República - Lista PEP
• Reglamento de Oficiales de Cumplimiento - Sunacrip 2025
• Press Release - Ministerio Público Sunacrip
• Expediente MP-2023-1421
• Auditoría PDVSA-Cripto 2024
• Ministerio de Energía Eléctrica - Resolución 2024-887
• Sunacrip Nota Pública 2025-02
• TSJ Sentencia No. 2025-088
• Ley de Impuesto sobre la Renta - Gaceta 6.891
• Ley de IVA - Gaceta 6.407
• SENIAT - Sistema SILED 2025
• Alcaldía de Caracas - Ordenanza de Actividades Económicas 2025
• OFAC SDN List - Sunacrip
• ControlCambio Quiebra - TSJ 2024
• Superintendencia de Seguros - Nota 2025-04
• Sunacrip Memoria 2025 - Recursos Humanos
• Gaceta Oficial No. 6.999 - Retiro del Petro
• Memoria de la Fiscalía General 2025