The passage of the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act, 2022 (“the VASP Act”) was announced by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (“FSC”) and come into effect on 1 February 2023.

According to the VASP Act, every BVI Companies provide virtual asset services in and outside BVI must register as a virtual assets service provider (“VASP”). For those companies already operating with virtual asset services shall file the application for registration as VASPs on or before 31 July 2023. Failing to comply with the Act will be subject to offense and result in enforcement action taken by the local authority.

Here are the summarized definitions of Virtual asset and VASP under the new Act: 

• Virtual asset: a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded or transferred and can be used for payment or investment purposes.
• Virtual asset service provider: a business that provides the service of exchanging, transferring, safekeeping, administration, or financial services relating to virtual.

For further details about the VASP Act, we will keep clients informed upon receiving any updates from the FSC.