Crypto ATM / kiosk operator in Equatorial Guinea
Physical kiosks that exchange cash for crypto (and sometimes vice versa). High-cash AML risk profile.
Crypto ATM is not permitted in Equatorial Guinea.
Verdict Details
- Permitted
- no
- Local entity required
- No
- Licensing burden
- None
- Last updated
- 2026-07-13
AML Obligations
- Not applicable — crypto activities are prohibited under BEAC Circular No. 001/GR/2022, so no lawful crypto ATM/kiosk operation can exist to which AML obligations would attach.
- General AML framework (Law N° 4/2004, CEMAC Directive N° 01/03-UEAC-CM-300-CM-06) exists for financial sector entities but prohibits engagement with crypto.
- Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) would be submitted to CENTIF-GE (the national FIU), but this only applies if the underlying activity were not already prohibited.
Key Restrictions
- BEAC Circular No. 001/GR/2022 prohibits the issuance, trading, holding, and any other activities related to crypto-assets by any person or entity subject to the CEMAC financial regulatory framework.
- Crypto ATM / kiosk operations — which involve exchanging cash for crypto and vice versa — are squarely within the prohibited trading/activities scope of the circular.
- No license, registration, or authorization pathway exists for crypto-asset services, including ATMs/kiosks.
- Equatorial Guinea is part of the CEMAC zone; BEAC regulations are binding and directly applicable.
Key Risks
- Operating a crypto ATM in Equatorial Guinea would likely be treated as a criminal violation of the BEAC prohibition, with potential enforcement by BEAC and national authorities.
- Financial institutions and banks in the CEMAC zone are prohibited from facilitating crypto transactions, making cash-out/cash-in settlement via the formal banking system impossible.
- Absence of any licensing or registration regime means no legal pathway exists to operate compliantly.
- General AML/CFT laws would apply to any attempted operation, but the underlying prohibition makes compliance moot — any operation is per se illegal.
Evidence
This verdict synthesizes the following facts. Each fact links to its primary source(s).
A licensing regime for digital-asset services applies in Equatorial Guinea through directly applicable community law: article 144 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 requires COSUMAF agrément as prestataire de services sur actifs numériques, and the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 supplies the framework, while no implementing instruction has been issued, no minimum capital is set and no agrément has been granted.
Licences for digital-asset services exist in CEMAC law and cover Equatorial Guinea: article 160 of Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF lists custody for third parties, purchase and sale against legal tender, platform operation, reception and transmission of orders, portfolio management, advice and placement, all subject to COSUMAF agrément, and no such agrément has yet been issued to any operator.
BEAC issued no Circular No. 001/GR/2022 of 29 June 2022 on the prohibition of crypto-assets; BEAC's register of Instructions, Circulaires et Règlements lists no 2022 crypto instrument, and the CEMAC measure of that period is Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, binding supervised institutions only.
No CEMAC prohibition reaches the issuance, trading or holding of crypto-assets by any person: Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 binds only institutions COBAC supervises, and Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM of 20 December 2024 instead treats virtual-asset service providers in Equatorial Guinea as regulated obliged entities subject to authorisation and AML/CFT duties.
Exchanges: Prohibited from operating.
Custody of digital assets for third parties is a licensable activity rather than a prohibited one in Equatorial Guinea: it appears in the list of services requiring COSUMAF agrément under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF, and the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 defines the PSAN as a professional providing purchase-sale, custody and platform services.
Payment institutions in Equatorial Guinea are barred from crypto-asset dealings by Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 as COBAC-supervised entities, not by any prohibition on crypto payment processing as such; unsupervised persons face no equivalent bar and virtual-asset service provision is instead subject to authorisation under Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM.
Other VASPs: Any entity dealing with virtual assets in a professional capacity.
Virtual-asset service providers operating in Equatorial Guinea carry AML/CFT obligations directly under Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM of 20 December 2024: article 6 lists them among the obliged entities, article 42 requires prior authorisation and the transmission of originator and beneficiary information above 500 000 FCFA for occasional transactions, and article 39 sets a ten-year record-retention period, while no CEMAC text fixes a minimum capital for PSAN.
No PSAN application process operates in Equatorial Guinea because COSUMAF has issued no implementing instruction and granted no agrément, while the licensing obligation itself exists in force under Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF and the Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023.
Equatorial Guinea has no standalone national AML/CFT statute; the GABAC mutual evaluation adopted on 22 November 2024 records that the country relies entirely on the directly applicable CEMAC règlement, supplemented by the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, and no law numbered 4/2004 on money laundering appears in that report.
The foundational CEMAC AML/CFT text is a UMAC Ministerial Committee règlement, not a UEAC directive: Règlement n° 01/03-CEMAC-UMAC of 4 April 2003, revised by Règlement n° 02/10 of 2 October 2010 and Règlement n° 01/16/CEMAC/UMAC/CM of 11 April 2016, and superseded by Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM of 20 December 2024, which applies directly in Equatorial Guinea without national transposition.
GABAC is the FATF-style regional body for CEMAC and rated Equatorial Guinea Non-Compliant on Recommendation 15 in its mutual evaluation report adopted on 22 November 2024; virtual assets are nonetheless codified regionally, since art. 2 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM defines actif virtuel and PSAV and art. 6 makes virtual-asset service providers assujettis.
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 — Crypto ATM / kiosk operations are prohibited in Equatorial Guinea under BEAC Circular No. 001/GR/2022, which bans all crypto-asset activities (issuance, trading, holding) with no licensing or registration pathway available.
Questions this verdict aims to answer
- What money-transmitter / kiosk-specific license is required?
- What cash-transaction reporting thresholds apply?
- What enhanced-KYC obligations attach to cash-in / cash-out?