On-shore VASP in Guyana

No Specific Crypto Licenses: There are no distinct licenses for "crypto exchanges," "crypto custody," or "crypto payment processors" in the same way there are for traditional financial institutions.

Bank of Guyana (BoG) Stance: The Bank of Guyana has generally adopted a cautious stance, issuing public advisories warning about the risks associated with virtual assets (volatility, scams, lack of consumer protection). While they acknowledge the emergence of crypto, they have not yet issued specific regulations or licensing requirements for VASP activities.

March 2021: A prominent advisory reiterating that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender and are unregulated.

Regulator/Enforcing Body: Guyana Police Force, Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU)

Criminal prosecution of alleged fraudsters utilizing digital assets.

The duo (Garcia-Lopez and Ishmael) faced over 100 fraud charges related to bilking Guyanese citizens of billions of dollars.

Assets were frozen and seized by the state as part of the criminal proceedings.

Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (as amended) (AMLCFTA). This Act, enforced by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Guyana, serves as the cornerstone for financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs), which now explicitly include VASPs.

Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Guyana

This amendment, along with others, updated the original Act to address evolving FATF standards and typically broadened the scope of "reporting entities" or "financial institutions" to include new types of services, implicitly or explicitly bringing VASPs under its ambit.

Identifying the Customer:

Identifying and Verifying the Beneficial Owner: Determining the natural person(s) who ultimately own or control the customer, or on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted.

Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD): Applying more stringent measures for higher-risk situations, such as:

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

Obligation to Report: VASPs are legally obligated to report any suspicious transaction or activity to the FIU, regardless of the amount. A transaction is suspicious if the VASP has reasonable grounds to suspect that it may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing, or if it deviates from the client's usual activity or financial profile.

No Tipping-Off: VASPs and their employees are prohibited from disclosing to the customer or any third party that a report has been or will be made to the FIU (i.e., "tipping-off").

Screening for Sanctions: Customers and transactions must be screened against national and international sanctions lists (e.g., UN Security Council sanctions, OFAC sanctions).

Customer Identification Records: Copies of identification documents, verification data, beneficial ownership information.

Adopted: Yes, Guyana has made legislative amendments to include Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) within its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, thereby adopting the requirements that underpin the Travel Rule.

Effective Date: The key legislative instrument is the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Act 2023 (No. 4 of 2023). This Act amended the principal AML/CFT Act 2009 (Cap. 10:11) to include virtual assets and VASPs. While the exact gazetting date marks its legal effectiveness, the practical implementation and issuance of specific guidance for VASPs are ongoing.

For transfers between VASPs, the Travel Rule generally requires the originating VASP to obtain and transmit certain originator and beneficiary information (name, account number/wallet address) for transactions with no de minimis threshold (i.e., zero threshold for VASP-to-VASP transfers of required basic information).

For transactions exceeding the equivalent of USD 1,000/EUR 1,000, the originating VASP must obtain and transmit more detailed information, including the originator's address or national identity number, and the beneficiary's address or national identity number.

Like most jurisdictions, Guyana's legislation and regulations typically do not mandate a specific technical solution (e.g., TRISA, Sygna, Travel Rule Protocol) for Travel Rule compliance.

"Business" vs. "Investment": The distinction between an investment and a business is crucial. If the activity is deemed a "business," profits are taxable as income.

Mining Activities: The VAT treatment of crypto mining services (e.g., validating transactions for a fee) is also unclear. If such services are considered a taxable supply, they could be subject to VAT.

Entity Targeted: Individuals associated with "Coinvest Guyana" and "Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. (ACFI)," particularly Yuri Garcia-Lopez and Ateeka Ishmael, along with others later implicated. Violation Type: Operating a pyramid scheme, obtaining money by false pretences (fraud), unlicensed financial operations. The scheme reportedly solicited investments with promises of high returns, often facilitated through digital means and sometimes referencing digital asset investments as part of its pitch, though its core was a classic Ponzi/pyramid structure.