Cameroon Compliance Report

Generated 2026-09-22

Comprehensive Framework

Regulatory Overview

Regulatory Status: Dedicated crypto/VA legislation, licensing regime, active enforcement
Key Regulator(s): National Agency for Financial Investigation, UMAC Ministerial Committee, Ministry of Finance
Primary Legislation: Loi n° 2016/007 du 12 juillet 2016 is Cameroon's PENAL CODE (portant Code Pénal), Any future crypto regulation would undoubtedly incorporate robust AML/KYC obliga, Law No. 2016/007 of 12 July 2016 on the Fight against Money Laundering and Terro, This is the general AML/CFT law in Cameroon. Official government portals may hos, For general information on monetary policy and financial regulation in the CEMAC, the regulation specifies thresholds, e.g., for offers whose total value is less than 50 million CFA francs within a 12-month period, s bitcoin legal-tender law). However, no, CEMAC financial regulation reaches crypto transactions expressly. COBAC decision, Cameroonian Anti-Money Laundering Act
Travel Rule: Adopted — Threshold: Implemented
Tax Reporting: No Specific Crypto Capital Gains Tax: Cameroon does not have a dedicated capital gains tax on virtual assets.. Wrong on both the existence and the number. Cameroon has no separate capital gains tax on cryptocurrency at all — crypto is absent from the CGI. Where Cameroonian law does tax gains, it does so *inside* the IRPP as a category, not as a separate tax: plus-values on the cession of shares and securities are taxed as revenus de capitaux mobiliers at 16.5% (15% IRCM base + 10% CAC = 16.5%), rising to a 33% liberatory rate where the beneficiary is established in a tax haven (CGI arts. 70-71); plus-values on immovable property are taxed at 5%. There is no 15% headline rate: 15% is the IRCM *base* rate before the mandatory 10% centimes additionnels communaux.. If an individual frequently trades cryptocurrencies, the DGI might consider this a professional activity, and profits would be subject to the progressive Personal Income Tax (PIT) rates.. The progressive PIT rates typically range from 10% to 35% (or higher including surcharges) based on income brackets.. Casual gains from occasional sales might also be subject to PIT.

Key Facts

aml The substantive claim is right but the instrument identity is wrong. There is no "Regulation No. 02/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/22" and no 2022 CEMAC AML regulation. The instrument is Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, signed at Libreville on 20 December 2024 (CEMAC/UMAC Ministerial Committee, extraordinary session), effective on signature and abrogating all contrary provisions of Reglement n° 01/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 11 avril 2016. It does define virtual assets - art. 2(72): "Digital representation of a value that can be digitally traded, transferred or used for payment or investment purposes... does not include digital representations of fiat currencies, securities and other financial assets already covered by specific regulatory provisions" - and defines prestataires de services d'actifs virtuels; art. 6(e) lists "virtual or digital asset service providers" among the assujettis, so VASPs carry the same AML/CFT obligations as financial institutions. It is a FATF-aligned revision (approved by GABAC Plenary Resolution No. 10 of 28 September 2024). The 2022 CEMAC instrument that touches digital assets is a different one: Reglement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 on the regional financial market. Loi n° 2016/007 du 12 juillet 2016 is Cameroon's Code Penal, not an AML/CFT law, and it did not create ANIF. Cameroon has no standalone national AML/CFT statute: the framework is the directly applicable CEMAC regulation - today Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 decembre 2024, previously Reglement n° 01/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 11 avril 2016 and before that Reglement n° 01/03-CEMAC-UMAC-CM du 4 avril 2003 - supplemented for supervised financial institutions by Reglement COBAC R-2023/01 on LBC/FT diligences (in force 1 July 2024). ANIF was created by Decret n° 2005/187 du 31 mai 2005 (organisation and functioning of the Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financiere), operational since January 2006 and attached to the Ministere des Finances; its regional legal basis is art. 25 of Reglement n° 01/03-CEMAC-UMAC-CM, which instituted an ANIF in every Central African state. COBAC (Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale) is correctly identified as the CEMAC banking supervisor, but it has not merely 'may eventually' addressed crypto - it acted first and most restrictively in the zone. Decision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 bars COBAC-supervised entities (credit institutions, microfinance establishments, payment institutions and bureaux de change) from acquiring, holding, transferring or converting cryptocurrencies/crypto-assets for own account or for clients, from keeping accounts denominated in cryptocurrency and from carrying them on the balance sheet, and requires internal detection controls plus reporting of detected crypto operations to COBAC and BEAC. COBAC's AML rulebook is Reglement COBAC R-2023/01 on the LBC/FT diligences of assujettis (in force 1 July 2024). Also, VASP obligations in Cameroon do not flow from 'national AML laws' (there are none) but from the CEMAC regulation, Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, art. 6(e); and VASP/PSAN licensing is COSUMAF's competence, not COBAC's. Collecting accurate and reliable identification data for natural persons (e.g., full name, date of birth, place of birth, nationality, residential address, unique identification number, source of funds/wealth). Verifying identity using independent and reliable sources (e.g., government-issued ID documents, official registries). Verifying identity before establishing a business relationship or conducting transactions above a certain threshold (often EUR 1,000 or equivalent). Taking reasonable measures to understand the ownership and control structure of legal entity customers. Identifying the natural person(s) who ultimately own or control the customer (typically 25% ownership or more, or effective control).
enforcement Il n'existe aucune interdiction générale des crypto-actifs en zone CEMAC et la BEAC n'a émis aucun texte d'interdiction. La mesure de 2022 est la Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, prise par la COBAC (superviseur bancaire), qui interdit aux seuls établissements assujettis à la COBAC de détenir, utiliser, échanger ou convertir des cryptoactifs pour compte propre ou pour compte de clients, de les comptabiliser au bilan, et leur impose un dispositif de détection et une remontée d'information à la COBAC et à la BEAC. Les personnes physiques et les entreprises non assujetties ne sont pas visées. À l'inverse, le Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 21 juillet 2022 (en vigueur le 1er août 2022) admet les 'actifs numériques' et 'jetons numériques' sur le marché financier d'Afrique centrale et soumet les prestataires de services sur actifs numériques à l'agrément de la COSUMAF. Enforcement against crypto-related Ponzi schemes/fraudulent operations. Regulator Name: Bank of Central African States (BEAC - Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale), the central bank for the CEMAC region (which includes Cameroon). Un cadre communautaire existe bel et bien et s'applique au Cameroun : le Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 21 juillet 2022 et le Règlement Général de la COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 soumettent les prestataires de services sur actifs numériques (PSAN) à l'agrément de la COSUMAF ; la Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 interdit les cryptoactifs aux établissements assujettis à la COBAC ; le Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 fait des prestataires de services d'actifs virtuels des assujettis LBC/FT (art. 6) et exige un agrément préalable de l'autorité compétente de l'État membre (art. 42). En revanche, aucun agrément PSAN n'a été délivré et les instructions d'application de la COSUMAF n'ont pas été publiées, de sorte que le marché demeure de fait non supervisé. Il n'existe aucun texte national camerounais spécifique aux crypto-actifs. Il est exact qu'aucune interdiction générale des crypto-actifs n'est appliquée au Cameroun — mais parce qu'aucune n'a jamais été édictée, et non parce qu'une interdiction antérieure serait tombée en désuétude. La Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 ne visait que les établissements assujettis à la COBAC et reste en vigueur pour eux ; l'usage des cryptoactifs par le public n'a jamais été prohibé, le gouverneur de la BEAC s'étant borné à déconseiller l'investissement (nov. 2022). La Décision COBAC D-2022/071 n'assortit pas elle-même la violation d'un montant, mais les sanctions ne relèvent pas des seuls tribunaux nationaux ou d'une 'police financière' : la COBAC dispose du pouvoir disciplinaire propre sur les établissements assujettis (avertissement, blâme, interdiction d'activités, suspension ou révocation des dirigeants, retrait d'agrément). Sur le volet LBC/FT, le Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM confie le contrôle aux 'autorités de contrôle' (art. 11) — COBAC et COSUMAF — l'ANIF n'ayant aucun pouvoir de sanction. Date: May 6, 2022 Aucune prohibition générale des activités liées aux crypto-actifs n'a été établie en zone CEMAC. L'exploitation d'une plateforme d'échange n'est pas 'hautement illégale' : elle constitue au contraire un service sur actifs numériques soumis à l'agrément de la COSUMAF depuis le Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 21 juillet 2022 et le Règlement Général COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023. Le minage n'est visé par aucun texte CEMAC. Seuls les établissements assujettis à la COBAC sont soumis à une interdiction, en vertu de la Décision COBAC D-2022/071.
general BEAC (Banque des Etats de l'Afrique Centrale, HQ Yaounde) is the central bank of the six CEMAC states (CM, CF, TD, CG, GQ, GA) and issues the XAF. It is not, however, 'the paramount regulatory body': prudential supervision of banks, microfinance and payment institutions belongs to COBAC, and the financial market is supervised by COSUMAF. In particular the CEMAC crypto-asset prohibition is a COBAC act (Decision COBAC D-2022/071 of 6 May 2022), not a BEAC one. Website: BEAC Official Website MINFI (Ministere des Finances) is the national finance ministry and does host/supervise ANIF, but the transmission mechanism is mis-stated: CEMAC reglements are directly applicable in member states and require no national implementing act, and the operative crypto measures are COBAC and COSUMAF acts, not 'BEAC directives'. MINFI's own crypto-relevant role has been market-integrity warnings (e.g. its October 2020 notice ordering 17 entities including Global Investment Trading to cease illegal fund collection). COSUMAF actively issues warnings against irregular fundraising (collecte irrégulière de fonds) in Cameroon, indicating a direct enforcement posture rather than merely aligning with BEAC's stance on speculative and unregulated assets like cryptocurrencies. Website: COSUMAF Official Website ANIF (Agence Nationale d'Investigation Financiere) is indeed Cameroon's FIU — an administrative-type unit created by decret n° 2005/187 du 31 mai 2005 and operational since January 2006, attached to MINFI — and it receives and analyses declarations de soupcon. The crypto element is over-stated for most of the period covered: virtual assets and prestataires de services d'actifs virtuels only became expressly assujettis at CEMAC level with Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 decembre 2024; mobile money / payment institutions were already assujettis via Reglement n° 04/18/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC du 21 decembre 2018. No such instrument exists. There is no 'BEAC Circular No. 001/GR/2021' on the prohibition of crypto-assets in the CEMAC zone: it appears nowhere in BEAC's, COBAC's or GABAC's registers, and returns zero hits in search. The real instrument is Decision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 relative a la detention, l'utilisation, l'echange et la conversion des cryptomonnaies ou cryptoactifs par les etablissements assujettis a la COBAC — adopted at a COBAC extraordinary session by videoconference on 6 May 2022 and announced by press release around 16 May 2022. Issuer (COBAC, not BEAC), instrument type (decision, not circular), number and year are all wrong. Neither date is right. The CEMAC crypto-asset prohibition was adopted on 6 May 2022 (COBAC extraordinary session) as Decision COBAC D-2022/071, publicised mid-May 2022, and reiterated by COBAC in June 2022 after the Central African Republic's April 2022 bitcoin legal-tender law. There is no 10 December 2021 CEMAC instrument and no 1 January 2022 effective date.
licensing The CFA Franc in Cameroon is currently stable with active institutional support and no immediate threat of devaluation, though fiscal and external pressures require continued monitoring. Financial Stability: Risks to the stability of the financial system. Consumer Protection: High volatility and lack of recourse for users. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT): Potential for illicit activities due to anonymity. Lack of Legal Tender Status: Cryptocurrencies are not recognized as legal tender within the CEMAC zone. This was true when written but is no longer. A legal framework exists: Reglement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 (in force 1 August 2022) introduced 'jetons numeriques' and 'actifs numeriques' into CEMAC market law (arts. 76 and 160), and the COSUMAF Reglement general du 23 mai 2023 (in force 24 May 2023) created the PSAN regime — exploitation d'une plateforme de negociation d'actifs numeriques is an enumerated service requiring COSUMAF agrement. Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 decembre 2024, art. 42(1), separately forbids exercising VASP activity without prior approval. What remains true is the practical conclusion: no implementing instructions have been issued, no licensed PSAN is publicly known, and COBAC D-2022/071 still denies exchanges access to banking services. Second half is correct: COBAC-supervised institutions (banks, microfinance, payment institutions, bureaux de change) are prohibited by Decision COBAC D-2022/071 from holding, exchanging or converting crypto-assets, so regulated-sector custody is indeed impossible. First half is wrong as of 2026: 'conservation d'actifs numeriques pour le compte de tiers' is an enumerated PSAN service under the COSUMAF Reglement general du 23 mai 2023 and requires COSUMAF agrement, and the CEMAC VASP definition in Reglement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM expressly covers safekeeping of virtual assets. Substantially right, with the issuer mis-stated. Payment services and e-money in CEMAC are governed by Reglement n° 04/18/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC du 21 decembre 2018 relatif aux services de paiement dans la CEMAC (with COBAC prudential norms, e.g. Reglement COBAC R-2019/02 for etablissements de paiement); the licensing/prudential authority is COBAC, not BEAC alone. Etablissements de paiement are among the assujettis covered by COBAC D-2022/071 and so may not handle crypto-assets, and there is indeed no crypto-specific payment licence at the COBAC layer.
securities Regulatory Uncertainty: The lack of specific cryptocurrency legislation creates uncertainty for market participants, potentially stifling innovation. Enforcement Consistency: Variability in enforcement actions across different regulatory bodies may lead to inconsistent compliance outcomes. Market Infrastructure: Limited access to compliant banking services and inadequate digital infrastructure poses challenges for the growth of the cryptocurrency sector. Cameroon - Securities & Stock Exchange Navigating Banking Regulations for Startups in Cameroon Société Générale Capital Securities Central Africa A Guide to the OHADA Legal Framework Dematerialisation of Securities in Cameroon: Legal Guide
status Cameroon is covered by four crypto-specific CEMAC instruments, all directly applicable in member states without national transposition. The CEMAC crypto stack directly applicable in Cameroon: (1) Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 — prohibits COBAC-supervised institutions (credit institutions, EMF, payment institutions) from holding, exchanging, converting or booking cryptoassets for own or third-party account; (2) Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 portant organisation et fonctionnement du marché financier de l'Afrique Centrale (en vigueur 1er août 2022) — art. 144 subjects 'prestataires de services sur actifs numériques' (PSAN) to COSUMAF agrément, art. 160 lists the services (conservation pour compte de tiers, achat/vente contre monnaie ayant cours légal, exploitation d'une plateforme de négociation, RTO, gestion de portefeuille, conseil, placement); (3) Règlement Général de la COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 (687 articles, abrogeant le RG du 23 juillet 2008) — first community PSAN framework, token placement monopoly, AML vigilance (arts. 92-93); (4) Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 (LBC/FT) — art. 2 defines actif virtuel and PSAV, art. 42 prior agrément/autorisation from the competent State authority, art. 39 10-year retention, STRs to ANIF. Operational gap: no PSAN agrément has been granted and COSUMAF's implementing instructions were still unpublished as of mid-2026. What is true is that the regime is not yet operational: no PSAN has been licensed and implementing instructions are outstanding. CEMAC financial regulation reaches crypto transactions expressly. COBAC decision D-2022/071 (6 May 2022) requires supervised banks, microfinance institutions and payment institutions to implement internal controls to detect crypto-related transactions and report them to COBAC and BEAC. Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF (21 July 2022) brings PSAN under COSUMAF supervision, and Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM (20 December 2024) makes virtual asset service providers assujettis for AML/CFT purposes. The absence of clear guidelines poses risks to investors and may hinder the growth of blockchain-based technologies within the country. Both named institutions are wrong. Cameroon is in CEMAC, not UEMOA: its central bank is the Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale (BEAC, HQ Yaoundé), not the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), and its currency is the franc CFA BEAC (XAF), not XOF. Banking supervision is by the Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale (COBAC). There is no 'Cameroonian Financial Market Authority' / 'Autorité de Régulation du Marché Financier (ARMF)' — the securities regulator is the regional Commission de Surveillance du Marché Financier de l'Afrique Centrale (COSUMAF), Cameroon's national Commission des Marchés Financiers having been wound up in the 2019 DSX/BVMAC merger. The FIU is ANIF (Décret n° 2005/187 du 31 mai 2005). The FATF-style regional body is GABAC. Dedicated instruments exist and are directly applicable in Cameroon. The CEMAC crypto stack directly applicable in Cameroon: (1) Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 — prohibits COBAC-supervised institutions (credit institutions, EMF, payment institutions) from holding, exchanging, converting or booking cryptoassets for own or third-party account; (2) Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022 portant organisation et fonctionnement du marché financier de l'Afrique Centrale (en vigueur 1er août 2022) — art. 144 subjects 'prestataires de services sur actifs numériques' (PSAN) to COSUMAF agrément, art. 160 lists the services (conservation pour compte de tiers, achat/vente contre monnaie ayant cours légal, exploitation d'une plateforme de négociation, RTO, gestion de portefeuille, conseil, placement); (3) Règlement Général de la COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 (687 articles, abrogeant le RG du 23 juillet 2008) — first community PSAN framework, token placement monopoly, AML vigilance (arts. 92-93); (4) Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 (LBC/FT) — art. 2 defines actif virtuel and PSAV, art. 42 prior agrément/autorisation from the competent State authority, art. 39 10-year retention, STRs to ANIF. Operational gap: no PSAN agrément has been granted and COSUMAF's implementing instructions were still unpublished as of mid-2026. The lack of a defined regulatory structure means that crypto activities operate in a legal grey area, potentially exposing participants to compliance uncertainties. A licence is legally required. Règlement n° 01/22/CEMAC/UMAC/CM/COSUMAF du 21 juillet 2022, art. 144, requires prestataires de services sur actifs numériques to be agréés by COSUMAF; art. 160 covers exactly the two activities the claim names — conservation d'actifs numériques pour compte de tiers (wallet/custody) and achat-vente d'actifs numériques contre monnaie ayant cours légal / exploitation d'une plateforme de négociation (exchange). The Règlement Général de la COSUMAF du 23 mai 2023 builds out the PSAN regime. Independently, Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024, art. 42, provides that no one may carry on the professional activity of a virtual asset service provider without prior agrément or authorisation from the competent authority of the State. Separately, COBAC decision D-2022/071 bars all COBAC-supervised institutions from any crypto activity. The correct nuance is that no PSAN agrément has yet been issued and COSUMAF's implementing instructions remain unpublished as of mid-2026 — so the licence is required but not yet obtainable in practice. The conclusion is right but the mechanism is understated. Under Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 virtual asset service providers are assujettis in their own right — art. 2 defines 'actif virtuel' (digital representation of value that can be digitally traded, transferred or used for payment or investment) and 'prestataire de services sur actifs virtuels' (exchange, transfer, safekeeping, participation in offerings, on a commercial basis for a customer). They are not merely caught by rules 'applicable to financial institutions' by analogy. Obligations include 10-year record retention (art. 39) and suspicious transaction reporting to ANIF.
tax No Specific Crypto Capital Gains Tax: Cameroon does not have a dedicated capital gains tax on virtual assets. Wrong on both the existence and the number. Cameroon has no separate capital gains tax on cryptocurrency at all — crypto is absent from the CGI. Where Cameroonian law does tax gains, it does so inside the IRPP as a category, not as a separate tax: plus-values on the cession of shares and securities are taxed as revenus de capitaux mobiliers at 16.5% (15% IRCM base + 10% CAC = 16.5%), rising to a 33% liberatory rate where the beneficiary is established in a tax haven (CGI arts. 70-71); plus-values on immovable property are taxed at 5%. There is no 15% headline rate: 15% is the IRCM base rate before the mandatory 10% centimes additionnels communaux. If an individual frequently trades cryptocurrencies, the DGI might consider this a professional activity, and profits would be subject to the progressive Personal Income Tax (PIT) rates. The progressive PIT rates typically range from 10% to 35% (or higher including surcharges) based on income brackets. Casual gains from occasional sales might also be subject to PIT. If a company trades or invests in cryptocurrencies as part of its business operations, any profits (capital gains) would be included in its taxable income and subject to Corporate Income Tax (CIT). The standard CIT rate in Cameroon is generally 30%, to which a 10% communal tax is usually added, resulting in an effective tax rate of 33%. Individuals: Profits from individual cryptocurrency mining (e.g., as a self-employed activity) would likely be subject to Personal Income Tax (PIT).
travel rule CEMAC does have a virtual-asset travel rule. Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 (adopted in extraordinary session at Libreville) defines 'actif virtuel' and 'prestataire de services d'actifs virtuels' in art. 2, lists PSAV among the personnes assujetties in art. 6, and in art. 42 ('mesures spécifiques aux prestataires de services d'actifs virtuels') requires that, for a virtual-asset transfer, the originator's PSAV obtain and keep the required and accurate originator information and the required beneficiary information and transmit it to the beneficiary's PSAV — the FATF R.16 travel rule applied to virtual assets. Arts. 36–38 impose the parallel originator/beneficiary rules on virements électroniques by institutions financières. Being a CEMAC règlement, it is directly applicable in Cameroon without national transposition. The stated reason is also false: virtual-asset activity is not prohibited in Cameroon. Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 binds only COBAC-supervised establishments (banks, établissements financiers, EMF, établissements de paiement, bureaux de change manuel); it is not a general public ban, and the COSUMAF Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023 positively creates a PSAN licensing regime. What is true is that no PSAN/PSAV agrément had been granted anywhere in CEMAC as of 29 June 2025, so the travel rule exists on paper with no licensed obligated entity to apply it. No 'BEAC Communiqué No. 003/GR/2022' exists. The real May 2022 act is the Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 relative à la détention, l'utilisation, l'échange et la conversion des cryptomonnaies ou cryptoactifs par les établissements assujettis à la COBAC. It was issued by COBAC (the CEMAC banking supervisor), not BEAC; it is an individual decision addressed to supervised establishments, not a règlement of general application; and it prohibits only those establishments from acquiring, holding, transferring, converting or booking crypto-assets, while requiring them to install internal controls to detect crypto operations and to inform COBAC and BEAC. It does not prohibit holding, buying or selling crypto by the general public, and it does not preclude legal VASP operation — the COSUMAF Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023 in fact provides for PSAN agrément. The six-member list of CEMAC states (Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon) is correct, as is BEAC's identification as the regional central bank. The premise fails: virtual-asset activities are not banned in Cameroon, and legally recognised VASP status is provided for — the COSUMAF Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023 makes agrément mandatory for prestataires de services sur actifs numériques (purchase/sale against legal tender, third-party custody, trading platform operation, reception/transmission of orders, portfolio management, advice, placement). The travel rule does have an effective date: it enters CEMAC law with Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024, art. 42. The accurate statement is that no PSAN agrément had been issued as of 29 June 2025, so the regime is unoperationalised rather than inapplicable. The substance is right, the attribution is wrong. There was no BEAC communiqué and no general ban: the May 2022 measure was Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022, binding only COBAC-supervised establishments. Its practical effect on retail crypto use in Cameroon was indeed limited, and use has continued to grow — Agence Ecofin (29 June 2025) reports an active unregulated parallel market in CEMAC and describes Cameroon, with its young connected population and large diaspora, as a priority market for operators such as Yellow Card, precisely because no PSAN agrément has yet been delivered. Thresholds do exist and they are denominated in FCFA, not in USD or EUR. Under Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024: art. 42 provides that 'lorsque le seuil d'opérations occasionnelles dépasse 500 000 FCFA, les PSAV prennent des mesures de vigilance renforcées'; arts. 16 and 18 set a 5 000 000 FCFA threshold for cross-border physical transport of cash and for cash-transaction reporting to ANIF; and art. 36 requires full originator and beneficiary information for ALL virements électroniques with no de minimis. The 'USD/EUR 1,000' figure is imported FATF R.16 boilerplate and is a contamination tell in an XAF jurisdiction. There is no BEAC ban. Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 reaches only establishments subject to COBAC supervision — banks, établissements financiers, microfinance establishments, payment institutions and manual exchange bureaux — and not 'all entities and individuals'. It does not sweep in exchanges or custodians as such; those fall under the COSUMAF Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023, which requires an agrément rather than prohibiting the activity, and under art. 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, which conditions professional PSAV activity on prior agrément or authorisation. The premise (no legal VASPs) is false — see the COSUMAF PSAN agrément regime of 23 May 2023. A substantive obligation does exist: art. 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 requires the originator's PSAV to obtain, retain and transmit originator and beneficiary information to the beneficiary's PSAV. What is genuinely absent is any prescribed messaging protocol or technical standard (no IVMS101-equivalent, no designated implementation authority), and no PSAN has been licensed, so nothing is enforced in practice. There is no 'BEAC Cryptocurrency Ban'. Operating a virtual-asset business in Cameroon is not per se a violation of any BEAC communiqué. The relevant exposure is different: (a) a COBAC-supervised establishment that deals in crypto breaches Décision COBAC D-2022/071 du 6 mai 2022 and faces COBAC disciplinary sanctions; (b) anyone providing PSAN services without the COSUMAF agrément required by the Règlement Général du 23 mai 2023 acts unlawfully; and (c) art. 42 of Règlement n° 02/24/CEMAC/UMAC/CM du 20 décembre 2024 conditions professional PSAV activity on prior agrément or authorisation. Ordinary individuals transacting in crypto are not caught by any of these.

Sources

This report is AI-generated from publicly available regulatory sources. Last updated: 2026-09-06. View full profile