Costa Rica crypto regulation now runs through Law 10961, published in Supplement No. 78 to La Gaceta No. 113 on June 19, 2026. It adds Article 15 quater to Law 7786 of April 30, 1998, the country’s narcotics and anti-money laundering statute. Under it, virtual asset service providers (VASPs) carry a new duty. They must register with the Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras (SUGEF), and that registration does not represent an authorization to operate.
Banks sit in the chain too. Article 14 financial entities that keep commercial relationships with VASPs lacking current SUGEF registration face fines of 0.5% to 2% of equity. The gazette text therefore builds a supervised registry with banks as its checkpoint, a narrower status than a crypto license. The law took effect three months after its publication, on September 19, 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Law 10961 was published in La Gaceta on June 19, 2026, and it takes effect three months after its publication.
- Lawmakers approved Expediente 25340 in second debate on May 25, 2026, with 53 votes in favor and 4 absent, per Delfino.cr’s Asamblea Legislativa tracker.
- Registration with SUGEF does not represent an authorization to operate, and the law lists 4 activities that make a business a VASP.
- VASPs face fines of 5% to 50% of the transaction amount when they fail to record transactions of $10,000 or more.
- Article 14 financial entities face fines of 0.5% to 2% of equity for commercial relationships with VASPs whose SUGEF registration is not current.
- A private letter ruling dated August 23, 2023 places crypto under the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) or the Tax on Capital Income and Capital Gains, depending on the activity, according to EY.
What is Costa Rica’s Law 10961?
Law 10961 reforms Law 7786 of April 30, 1998, Costa Rica’s statute on narcotics, money laundering and terrorist financing. It adds Article 15 quater, which sets duties for virtual asset service providers. Imprenta Nacional printed it as legislative decree No. 10961 in Supplement No. 78 to La Gaceta No. 113 on June 19, 2026.
The bill, Expediente 25340, was filed on December 11, 2025. Its stated purpose is stronger compliance with the recommendations of the Grupo de Acción Financiera Internacional (GAFI), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). It singles out Recommendation 15, which the bill says sets 11 points on regulating virtual assets and their service providers.
Lawmakers approved it in second debate on May 25, 2026, with 53 votes in favor and 4 absent. Costa Rica’s president, Laura Fernández Delgado, then signed the decree with the order to execute and publish it. The purpose statement explains why the law reads as an anti-money laundering measure first and a market rule second.
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We read the law from the Imprenta Nacional’s own PDF of the gazette. The official text settles questions that secondary summaries blur, such as whether registration equals a license.
Is crypto legal in Costa Rica?
Crypto use is permitted in Costa Rica, but crypto assets are not legal tender, so citizens are not obliged to accept them as payment. Law 10961 defines a virtual asset as a digital representation of value usable for payments or investments.
The law adds that virtual assets are not legal tender or foreign currency recognized by the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR). In a 2021 essay, Rodrigo Cubero Brealey, then president of the Banco Central, writes that buyers acquire crypto assets at their own risk. He adds that consumers who invest have no legal avenue to seek compensation for capital losses caused by high volatility.
The essay describes the Banco Central approach as “tolerancia vigilante”, or watchful tolerance. Under it, the bank tolerates the existence and circulation of crypto assets, leaves room for fintech innovation, and will introduce regulation when necessary. Law 10961 reads as that regulation arriving, through anti-money laundering supervision, while the legal-tender position stays where the essay left it.
Key finding: The 2021 essay from the Banco Central de Costa Rica reports that local investment in crypto assets appeared marginal, although available information is limited. It says the bank, the Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero (CONASSIF) and the financial superintendencies monitor crypto assets for stability risks.
Is crypto available in Costa Rica?
Yes. The essay from the Banco Central de Costa Rica states that crypto use is permitted in Costa Rica and that consumers may choose to invest. The trade-off is risk: Buyers acquire crypto at their own risk and have no legal avenue for compensation over volatility losses. Providers now face a registration duty under Law 10961.
Who regulates crypto in Costa Rica?
SUGEF registers VASPs and supervises their anti-money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing compliance under a risk-based approach. CONASSIF sets by regulation the conditions for meeting obligations (a) to (j) and the scope of the covered activities. CONASSIF is the national council that oversees financial supervision.
VASPs send suspicious operation reports to the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera del Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas (ICD), the drug institute’s financial intelligence unit. The other financial superintendencies must tell SUGEF when their supervision turns up possible breaches. CONASSIF may also limit or prohibit operations involving VASPs that are not subject to anti-money laundering regulation in any jurisdiction.
| Authority | Role under the law |
|---|---|
| SUGEF | Keeps the single central VASP registry, supervises anti-money laundering compliance, sanctions unregistered operators |
| CONASSIF | Sets compliance conditions, the scope of covered activities and the due-diligence threshold by regulation |
| ICD financial intelligence unit | Receives suspicious operation reports from VASPs, including attempted operations |
| Banco Central de Costa Rica | Competent authority on whether an asset is legal tender or foreign currency |
| Other financial superintendencies | Report possible breaches they find to SUGEF |
Source: La Gaceta (Imprenta Nacional), June 2026
Which crypto businesses count as virtual asset service providers?
Law 10961 treats a natural or legal person as a VASP when it carries out the listed activities as a business. That covers activity for itself or on behalf of a third party. The definition lists 4 activities, which take in exchanges, transfer services, custodians and token-sale service firms:
- Exchange between virtual assets and legal tender, or between one or more forms of virtual assets.
- Transfers of virtual assets.
- Custody, deposit, administration or control of virtual assets, by any means.
- Participation in and provision of financial services related to the issuance, offer or sale of virtual assets.
How SUGEF Registration Works for Crypto Exchanges
Registration with SUGEF does not represent an authorization to operate, and registered providers must keep their registration information current. SUGEF keeps a single, centralized registry of VASPs and may publish its lists through whatever channels it considers appropriate.
SUGEF will set rules to check the backgrounds of a VASP’s participants, partners and beneficial owners. It must also ensure that no unregistered person habitually carries out these activities in the territory of Costa Rica, whatever its legal domicile. Over presumed offenders it holds inspection and sanction powers, and it must file a criminal complaint with the courts.
Based on size, structure, number of operations, employees and risk exposure, SUGEF may require a compliance officer or authorize a differentiated structure. VASPs also help fund SUGEF’s supervision costs, according to their structure and the number and amount of their transactions.
Why it matters: La Gaceta’s text of Law 10961 has SUGEF keep a single centralized VASP registry whose lists it may publish. Once lists are public, banks, counterparties and users can check a provider’s status directly, in place of a license number.
Does Costa Rica issue a crypto license?
Law 10961 creates a registration duty, and it states that registration with SUGEF does not represent an authorization to operate. A provider marketed as “licensed in Costa Rica” is, under the gazette text, registered with a supervisor, which is a narrower status. Registration still carries supervision, reporting duties and fines.
Can Costa Rican banks work with crypto exchanges?
Only with registered ones. Article 14 entities may not keep commercial relationships with providers that are not duly registered with SUGEF. The same bar applies to subjects registered under Articles 15, 15 bis, 15 ter and 15 quater. An Article 14 entity that does faces a fine of 0.5% to 2% of its equity.
Anti-Money Laundering and Travel Rule Duties for VASPs
VASPs must meet the anti-money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing obligations in Article 15 quater, plus those CONASSIF sets by regulation. The article lists them as items (a) to (j), from customer due diligence to suspicious operation reports and their confidentiality.
| Item | Obligation |
|---|---|
| (a) | Identify clients and beneficial owners and apply due diligence using reliable independent data |
| (b) | Keep transaction records able to reconstruct transactions, available to authorities on request |
| (c) | Apply controls on politically exposed persons |
| (d) | Control risks from new products, business practices and technologies |
| (e) | Apply controls on virtual asset transfers |
| (f) | Follow CONASSIF controls on relying on third parties for due diligence |
| (g) | Control foreign branches and subsidiaries, including information exchange |
| (h) | Apply enhanced controls for dealings with countries rated high risk by international bodies |
| (i) | Report suspicious operations, including attempts, without delay to the ICD financial intelligence unit |
| (j) | Keep suspicious operation reports confidential |
Source: La Gaceta (Imprenta Nacional), Law 10961 text, June 2026
Due diligence applies when transactions equal or exceed a threshold that CONASSIF sets by regulation, based on applicable international standards. The threshold amount therefore sits in CONASSIF’s regulation.
For incoming and outgoing virtual asset transfers, VASPs must obtain and keep the information the GAFI international standard requires, including origin and destination. They must also apply immediate freezing measures and bar transactions with persons designated by international bodies. That is Costa Rica’s version of the crypto Travel Rule, set in the statute itself.
Fines and Penalties Under Law 10961
SUGEF or the Dirección Nacional de Notariado, as applicable, can fine a VASP 5% to 50% of the total transaction amount. The fine applies when a VASP fails to record, on the supervisor’s form, incoming or outgoing transactions of $10,000 or more. It also covers unrecorded multiple transactions under Article 23.
A second tier sets fines of two to one hundred base salaries, as defined in Article 2 of Law 7337. It covers failures on customer due diligence, records, politically exposed persons, suspicious operation reports and compliance programs. The same tier applies when a VASP refuses to register with the supervisor. The chart below compares the minimum and maximum of each share-based fine, with its base named on each bar.
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The reformed Article 81 fines Article 14 financial entities 0.5% to 2% of equity, meaning share capital plus capital contributions and accumulated profits and losses. Those fines weigh the gravity of the fault, the size of the damage and recidivism.
By the numbers: La Gaceta’s text of Law 10961 sets fines of 5% to 50% of the transaction amount for a VASP’s unrecorded transactions of $10,000 or more. An Article 14 entity that deals with a provider lacking current SUGEF registration risks 0.5% to 2% of equity.
How is crypto taxed in Costa Rica?
The General Directorate of Taxation treats cryptocurrencies as virtual (intangible) assets, according to EY’s summary of ruling MH-DGT-OF-0460-2023, dated August 23, 2023. They fall under the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) or the Tax on Capital Income and Capital Gains, depending on the taxpayer’s activity or transactions.
Fees for organizing, verifying or exchanging virtual assets are subject to CIT and Value Added Tax (VAT). Crypto investment returns fall under the capital income and gains tax, or under CIT when the asset is linked to a business activity. A wallet provider or exchange resident in Costa Rica pays CIT on its service income as Costa Rican-source business income.
The 2021 BCCR essay reports that the Ministerio de Hacienda found paying tax obligations with cryptocurrencies not viable under the law of the time. Compared with other crypto tax regimes, Costa Rica sorts crypto income by activity, so the same token can sit under two different taxes.
The tax position rests on one ruling: EY notes that the private letter ruling is provided for informational purposes only. A private ruling answers one consultation, and a later ruling or statute could change the treatment of crypto income.
How much tax do you pay on crypto gains in Costa Rica?
The amount depends on which tax applies. EY’s summary says returns on crypto investments fall under the Tax on Capital Income and Capital Gains, unless linked to a business activity. In that case the income is taxed under the CIT. Any amount on a given gain therefore needs the classification settled first.
Earlier Bills and What Comes Next for Costa Rica Crypto Regulation
Bill 23.415, the Ley de Mercado de Criptoactivos, was filed on October 24, 2022; the title translates as crypto-asset market law. Delfino.cr’s Asamblea Legislativa tracker lists its status as “Rechazado”, or rejected. The bill was not meant to make any cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin or Ethereum, legal tender in Costa Rica.
Its stated aim was a legal framework for crypto asset use and acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a private virtual currency. Law 10961 took the narrower anti-money laundering route instead, regulating providers without writing a crypto market statute.
Law 10961 grants a period of up to three months for its regulations. CONASSIF’s regulation sets the conditions for obligations (a) to (j) and the scope of the covered activities. That regulation, with its due-diligence threshold, and any registry lists SUGEF publishes show how the law works in practice.
Conclusion
Law 10961 makes SUGEF registration mandatory for VASPs while stating that registration is not an authorization to operate. VASP fines reach 5% to 50% of the transaction amount for unrecorded transactions of $10,000 or more. An Article 14 financial entity that deals with a provider lacking current registration risks 0.5% to 2% of equity. Exchanges and custodians carry the registration and reporting load, banks carry the counterparty check, and users keep the own-risk position the BCCR described.
The markers to watch are CONASSIF’s regulation and any registry lists SUGEF publishes. Together they show how a registry model compares with the crypto rules by country that license providers outright.
