The Congress of the Republic of Guatemala has permitted the Complete Regulation for the Prevention and Suppression of Cash Laundering or Different Property and the Financing of Terrorism (recognized as Decree 15-2026).
A complete of 160 members permitted the invoice with 147 votes in favor. The legislation shall be debated for the third time after the extraordinary session, and can come into pressure three months after it’s printed within the Official Gazette.
The brand new regulation, first introduced in September 2025, updates a 25-year-old authorized framework and explicitly features a cryptocurrency sector below direct state supervision for the primary time within the Central American nation’s historical past.
Change platforms, custodians and digital asset service suppliers Thought-about topic to necessary previous to Particular Verification Investigation (IVE).native or not would not matter.
The legislation repeals earlier laws enacted in 2001 and 2005 geared toward unifying monetary administration insurance policies and following the suggestions of the Monetary Motion Process Drive (FATF).
This determination is in response to the obsolescence of earlier authorized instruments within the face of present market dynamics. and the emergence of recent digital property within the world financial system. With this, Guatemalan authorities search to strengthen the nation’s worldwide confidence amongst buyers and the correspondent banking system.
The Decree, which remains to be awaiting formal publication and the event of technical rules, defines the precautionary strategy as shifting from conventional banking to all financial actions.
Digital asset service suppliers (PSAVs) must adapt their operations Has the identical administration duties as a financial institution and different regulated entities.
In response to legislative paperwork reviewed by CriptoNoticias, the rules will regulate sure actions inside the cryptocurrency ecosystem, together with change, storage, switch, issuance of digital property, and administration of buying and selling platforms.
Testing and id verification (KYC) required by authorities shall be strictly enforced To forestall cash laundering and terrorist financingDue to this fact, we don’t predict or assure that you’ll routinely acquire a industrial license for operation.
Regulated suppliers should register with the Banking Supervision Authority by means of a particular verification physique. Failure to adjust to this registration will end in administrative sanctions starting from $500 to $500,000. It is determined by the severity of the failure.
Corporations within the crypto sector shall be pressured to undertake a risk-based strategy. This contains creating a prevention handbook that features monetary crime mitigation insurance policies, appointing a compliance officer from senior administration, and conducting common inner and exterior audits as required by the FATF.
One other essential level of this invoice is that Prohibition of anonymity within the buying and selling of digital property. Platforms should apply strict due diligence or know-your-customer insurance policies, which require figuring out and verifying the id of customers and end-beneficiaries by means of trusted sources earlier than establishing industrial relationships.
Equally, rules require tighter controls when processing operations utilizing know-how that makes it troublesome to hint funds.
In relation to reporting, crypto corporations report anomalous transactions that lack a transparent financial or authorized foundation on to the IVE by means of suspicious transaction experiences.
Equally, there’s a requirement to take care of each day information and usually report money transactions exceeding $10,000 or native forex equal.
Earlier ideas on cryptocurrencies and privateness
Guatemala’s new legislation geared toward mitigating cash laundering and coping with digital currencies has destroyed Initiative 6538, which sought to control the usage of Bitcoin (BTC) and different digital property within the nation, as this media reported.
In reality, details about this invoice is not accessible on the Guatemalan Congress’s transparency portal, and as an alternative of highlighting the crypto sector, it has sparked debate over the content material of the brand new rules. It is simply that it is included within the broader rules to adjust to FATF.
Equally, this regulation raises deep debates concerning the ethical and moral nature of Bitcoin, which immediately impacts its nature. By strictly prohibiting anonymity in transactions and requiring strict due diligence or know-your-customer insurance policies, the Guatemalan state Enhance individuals’s private privateness.
As well as, suppliers have the next obligations: Totally establish and confirm the id of customers and supreme beneficiaries We accumulate data by means of trusted sources earlier than establishing industrial relationships, use know-how that protects the privateness of funds, and implement tighter controls when processing enterprise.
This regulation represents a direct contradiction to the basic rules of financial freedom and particular person sovereignty that gave delivery to Bitcoin, and transforms the instruments of inclusion. In nationwide monetary supervision mechanisms.
Adaptation to Decree 15-2026 has additionally brought on debate within the enterprise surroundings, because it considerably will increase operational and compliance prices for corporations which have beforehand operated exterior the surveillance radar below FATF requirements. It defines the finer factors and technical thresholds that govern the day-to-day operations of digital asset suppliers. As soon as the chief department points supplemental rules.
