Driven by its ambition to widen its service offerings and promote itself as an International Financial Centre of choice, Mauritius is on a constant quest for innovation, which has amplified in recent years thanks to the digital revolution. In fact, the number of Virtual Assets in circulation worldwide1 grew from about 66 in 2013 to around 7,557 in 2021 and the total market capitalization of all crypto assets, including stablecoins and tokens, amounted to almost USD2.6 trillion in 2021.

The Government primarily aims to ensure that its financial services sector and its business activities are driven by comprehensive legislations that are on par with international standards including those that help in the mitigation and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing risks in line with recommendation 15 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Along the same line, the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services Act 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”) was introduced on 7 February 2021. Furthermore, the Financial Services Commission (“FSC”) issued the AML/CFT Guidance Notes for Virtual Asset Service Providers and Issuers of Initial Token Offerings (the “AML/CFT Guidance Notes”) on 28 February 2022.

The FSC is responsible for regulating and supervising virtual asset service providers and issuers of initial token offerings.