On Monday, May 25, Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly unanimously approved, in its second session, amendments to Law 7786, which establishes specific obligations for virtual asset service providers. This is particularly important in matters of preventing money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
This initiative, processed under File 25,340, is partly in response to international pressure. In 2024, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will Fixing regulatory gaps for companies dealing with crypto assetsto avoid money laundering.
Failure to do so would put the country at risk of being placed on the gray list, making international loans more expensive and creating distrust in Costa Rica’s banking system.
The initiative is supported by four supervisory authorities: the General Supervision of Securities (Sugeval), the General Supervision of Financial Institutions (Sugef), the Supervision of Pensions (Supén), and the General Supervision of Insurance (Sugese), as well as the National Council for Supervision of Financial Systems (Conassif).
The reform defines virtual assets as digital representations of value that can be traded or transferred digitally for payment or investment, even in the absence of legal tender as currency in Costa Rica.
A service provider is considered a natural or legal person who, as a business,: Operations such as exchange, transfer, and storage of crypto assets and legal currency or the management of those assets.
Obligations imposed by law include identifying customers and ultimate beneficiaries, due diligence, maintaining transaction records, and reporting suspicious activities to the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Costa Rican Institute of Drugs (ICD).
The document also requires suppliers to register with Sugef, but this registration is not equivalent to an operating license. Fines range from 5% to 50% of the transaction value for certain violations, and from double base salary to $100 ($1,800 to $90,000) if registration, due diligence, or information obligations are not met.
But as CriptoNoticias reported, industry voices such as attorney Stephanie Sanchez warn that the reforms alone are not enough. Previous projects to regulate virtual asset service providers have been shelved, with the industry pointing out that existing efforts do not provide complete legal security for the digital ecosystem.
In this regard, the Costa Rican Blockchain Association (Asoblockchain) Public consultation on the proposed framework law The bill, which has been dubbed “effectively a civil code for decentralized industries,” will remain open until June 15, 2026, with the aim of enriching the draft with citizen donations.
The new law related to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will have a three-month regulatory period and will come into force three months after its promulgation in La Gaceta.
The effectiveness of this rule will depend on how Sugef implements oversight in practice, as the regulations have not yet been defined. The debate over whether Costa Rica needs a more comprehensive regulatory framework for its digital economy is still in its infancy.
(Tag translation) Bitcoin (BTC)
