Cape Verde, the Atlantic archipelago state, runs a FATF-aligned prior-registration regime for virtual-asset services: providing such services on a Cape Verde base is lawful only for an entity that has obtained prior registration with the Banco de Cabo Verde. The framework rests on two instruments — the 2023 law „30/X/2023“ and the central bank's 2024 notice „02/2024“, in force since 27 July 2024. Every fact on this page is drawn from the official gazette (boe.incv.cv), where both instruments are published; the bank's own website is not directly reachable from our network, so the gazette is the primary source we rely on — and we say plainly what that source does not yet publish.
Getting the nature of the regime right matters more than its label. Cape Verde issues a prior registration, not a prudential or banking licence: a registered person becomes an entity with anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing obligations, supervised and verified by the Banco de Cabo Verde, but it does not become a licensed financial institution. The law names the central bank as the single regulator and supervisor for virtual-asset activities — the securities regulator's authorisation catalogue carries no virtual-asset category at all. The duty applies even to a person who already holds another professional authorisation, and operating without registration attracts sanctions under the anti-money-laundering legislation.
Equally important is honesty about the two gaps: no state fee is fixed in either instrument, and no public register of registered providers has been published. Both points are addressed in detail below, and verifying them with the bank is part of the service we offer.
The Scope of Covered Services
Notice „02/2024“ lists covered services on the FATF pattern, and the list is broader than the law's own enumeration. It captures classic exchange models as well as platform-based and technical ones, and misjudging it is a common route into unregistered operation. If your model includes any of the categories below — alone or in combination — prior registration is required:
- exchange between fiat currency and virtual assets — purchase and sale for Cape Verdean escudo or any foreign currency with legal course;
- exchange between virtual assets, including through operating a trading platform;
- operating or providing virtual-currency automated teller machines (crypto ATMs);
- transfer services — moving virtual assets between wallets, accounts and addresses on a client's behalf;
- custody and safekeeping, including control of private keys and administrative management of clients' assets;
- participation in an issuer's offer or sale of virtual assets, including placement;
- investment advice on virtual assets and portfolio management under mandates.