Crypto license in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Statutory deposit
Обязательный депозит
XCD 100,000
100 000 XCD
Register, yearly
Реестр, ежегодно
XCD 12,000
12 000 XCD
Indemnity cover
Страховое покрытие
XCD 300,000
300 000 XCD
Decision, about
Решение, около
90 days
90 дней
When a Saint Vincent crypto license is on your list
Someone sold you a licence
The islands issue registration for virtual asset business and nothing that answers to the word licence. The regulator says so in writing, and says the claim is misleading.
Your company is already here
A business company or limited liability company that was already doing this work had thirty days from the start of the regime to apply. Silence ends in administrative striking off.
You hold client funds
The deposit is calculated from what you owe clients, so the more of their money sits with you, the more of yours has to sit pledged with the regulator.
You work from another country
Registration follows the company rather than the desk: an island company registers wherever the service is delivered from, and a foreign one needs a resident representative here.
Your product is only software
A pure technology supplier that never controls funds or keys may fall outside the definition, but the regulator decides that case by case rather than by category.
What you get
- A straight answer on what the islands actually issue
- The company form the Act allows for the filing
- A check of which registered agents take this work, and on what terms
- Deposit, capital and insurance sized to your client book
- An answer a bank's compliance desk can read
What is required to register in Saint Vincent
Registration, with no licence behind it
The Virtual Asset Business Act was passed in 2022 and sat unstarted for three years. An amendment on 28 April 2025 fixed the commencement date at 31 May 2025, and the regulator opened applications on 2 June 2025.
What it created is a register, not a licensing regime. Only a business company or a limited liability company may apply. The certificate runs to 31 December of the year it is issued and is renewed by 31 January of the next one, so a certificate issued in November lives for two months before its first renewal.
The numbers that actually bind
- Paid-up capital of XCD 50,000 and authorised capital of XCD 300,000, with power for the regulator to demand more from a riskier business.
- A statutory deposit of XCD 100,000 or a quarter of everything you owe clients, whichever is larger, held with a bank licensed under the Banking Act and pledged to the regulator as trustee.
- Professional indemnity insurance with cover of at least XCD 300,000, evidenced again every year.
- Client assets kept larger than your obligations to clients and never mixed with your own money.
What the register costs
Amounts are published in Eastern Caribbean dollars and are the same for every kind of virtual asset business.
| Payment | Amount, XCD |
|---|---|
| Application | 4,000 |
| Registration on approval | 12,000 |
| Renewal, by 31 January | 12,000 |
| Penalty for missing the renewal | 5,000 |
| Late fee, each day of default | 100 |
Only a licensed agent can file
Applications go to the regulator through a registered agent it licenses, and the file has to carry a business plan with five-year projections for a new business, three years of audited accounts for an existing one, and fitness assessments for directors, officers, beneficial owners and the principal representative.
Before operations start, an information systems audit by a certified auditor is required, and after that an independent cybersecurity audit every year. A data breach reaches the regulator within 48 hours. Quarterly reports cover account numbers and balances, and quarterly and annual reports cover money laundering compliance.
What the regulator says about island claims
On 30 April 2026 the regulator published a notice that no entity is registered, licensed or authorised to operate as a virtual asset service provider in the islands, that any entity claiming otherwise is making a false and misleading representation, and that such entities must cease and desist from saying it.
Where a verifiable number matters more than a low running cost, the comparison lives in our licensing and compliance section, beside our crypto and fintech licensing overview.
Registered business or own-account holder
You serve clients
Exchange, transfer, custody or financial services around a token sale for other people put you inside the Act, and the deposit and reporting come with it.
You use crypto for yourself
A company that only transacts with its own coins, or supplies technology without touching client funds, is treated by the regulator as outside the register.
Sources: Virtual Asset Business Act, No. 9 of 2022, ss. 6, 9, 10, 18, 19 and Schedule 1, as amended 28 April 2025; FSA notice on implementation and commencement, 31 May 2025; FSA Guidelines for Virtual Assets Businesses; FSA fee schedule; FSA notice on unauthorised providers, 30 April 2026.
Stages of work
The agent comes first
Nothing can be filed without a registered agent licensed by the regulator, so the engagement starts by finding out which agents take virtual asset work at all and on what terms.
Company form for the filing
The applicant is incorporated or converted into a business company or a limited liability company, because those are the only two forms the Act lets in the door.
People through the fitness test
Directors, officers, beneficial owners and, for a foreign operator, the principal representative resident on the islands are documented for the integrity, competence and financial standing checks.
Deposit, capital and cover in place
We compute the deposit from your client ledger on the application date, open it with a licensed bank, pledge it to the regulator and place the indemnity insurance.
The file and the application fee
Business plan, projections, policies on money laundering, risk, cybersecurity and consumer protection, ownership chart and the XCD 4,000 fee go in through the agent.
Preliminary review and diligence
The regulator checks the pack for completeness, then runs due diligence and the fitness assessment. Around ninety days is what it publishes for a complete and accurate file.
Certificate, and then the year
On approval the certificate arrives dated to 31 December. We set up the systems audit before launch and the calendar of quarterly, annual and 48-hour duties.
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