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Quick answer — Comoros, 2026

• Legal: Legal grey zone, not banned, not legal tender, largely unregulated
• Tax: No dedicated crypto tax; general tax law may still apply
• Buying: No domestic regulated exchange; use international platforms

The Union of the Comoros is a small island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa between Mozambique and Madagascar. It has one of the world's smaller and lower-income economies, leaning heavily on agriculture and on money sent home by a large diaspora. Against that backdrop, cryptocurrency occupies a largely undefined legal space: as of 2026 there is no dedicated, comprehensive national law that specifically authorises, licenses, or bans Bitcoin and other digital assets at the level of the Union government.

This guide explains how digital assets are treated in the Comoros heading into 2026: whether Bitcoin is legal, who the relevant authorities are, the laws and frameworks that touch crypto, how exchanges and virtual-asset businesses are handled, tax basics, anti-money-laundering rules, buying and using crypto in practice, mining, recent developments, consumer risks, and how to verify the position with official sources. A recurring theme is the gap between the national legal position and the controversial, island-level Anjouan offshore licences marketed to crypto businesses. This is general information as of 2026 and is NOT legal, tax, or financial advice; Comoran rules are sparse and can change with little public notice, so confirm specifics with the official regulator, the Central Bank of the Comoros (Banque Centrale des Comores), or a qualified local lawyer before acting. See also our overview of crypto regulation and our country-by-country regulation hub.

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There is no law in the Comoros that explicitly makes owning or trading Bitcoin a crime, and there is no law that explicitly grants digital assets formal recognition either. In practice, cryptocurrency sits in a legal grey zone: individuals are not generally prohibited from buying, holding, or transferring digital assets, but those assets enjoy no legal-tender status and little to no domestic consumer protection.

The official currency is the Comorian franc (KMF), which is pegged to the euro under a long-standing monetary cooperation arrangement with France. Only the franc is legal tender; no merchant is obliged to accept Bitcoin, and crypto is not money in the eyes of Comoran law. Because the sector is essentially unregulated rather than expressly legalised, users carry the full risk themselves: if a platform fails, a transfer goes wrong, or a scam succeeds, there is unlikely to be a domestic regulator or compensation scheme to turn to. The safest approach is to treat crypto as a high-risk personal activity, use reputable international platforms, and keep careful records. This is general information as of 2026 and is not legal advice.

The Comoros does not have a single, dedicated crypto regulator. The most relevant authorities are the central bank and the finance ministry, neither of which has issued a comprehensive, crypto-specific framework.

The Central Bank of the Comoros (Banque Centrale des Comores, BCC) is the monetary authority. It manages the Comorian franc, supervises banks and financial institutions, oversees financial stability, and approves the establishment of new financial institutions through an authorisation process known locally as the agrement. The franc's peg to the euro is maintained through a monetary cooperation arrangement with the French Treasury, and France participates on the BCC's board. The BCC has not issued cryptocurrency as legal tender and has not created a dedicated licensing regime for crypto-asset service providers. It publishes an official list of the financial institutions it has authorised, which is the reference point for checking whether a firm is genuinely regulated in the Comoros. Banking and anti-money-laundering supervision can still touch crypto activity indirectly, for example where a transaction passes through a regulated bank or money-transfer operator. The BCC's official website is banque-comores.km.

Reporting on Comoran crypto and offshore licensing points to the Ministry of Finance as the body associated with offshore financial activity. However, there is no published, standalone virtual-asset service provider (VASP) statute; any business handling financial flows would be assessed under the general financial-supervision framework rather than a purpose-built crypto law. Because official, English-language guidance is limited, treat secondary descriptions cautiously and verify any specific requirement directly with the BCC or a qualified Comoran lawyer.

The Comoros has not enacted a bespoke digital-asset statute comparable to the frameworks seen in larger jurisdictions. As a non-EU African state, it is not covered by the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) or any equivalent regional crypto framework; do not assume EU-style rules apply. Understanding the landscape means separating three distinct layers.

The franc, the banking system, and the licensing of financial institutions fall under the BCC and the country's monetary cooperation arrangement with France. These rules govern money and banks, not crypto specifically, but they shape how crypto can interact with the formal financial system.

The Comoros has anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing legislation and a financial intelligence unit, assessed internationally through its regional FATF-style body (see the AML/KYC section below). These obligations can apply where crypto interacts with banks or remittance operators.

A major point of confusion is the so-called Anjouan crypto licence. Anjouan is one of the islands of the Comoros, and an island-level body, marketed as the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority (AOFA), advertises low-cost, fast licences for crypto, banking, forex, and online-gambling firms targeting non-residents. A parallel scheme operates on the island of Mohéli (Mwali) through a body marketed as the Mwali International Services Authority (MISA). Multiple legal and industry sources state plainly that neither an Anjouan nor a Mwali crypto licence is officially recognised by the Union (national) government, which makes them a weak legal foundation. Treat any claim that a business is regulated in the Comoros via an AOFA or MISA licence with strong caution.

The reason is constitutional. Under the constitutional arrangement of the Union of the Comoros, banking and financial legislation falls to the Union government and its central bank, not to the individual islands, so an island-level authority cannot lawfully issue or supervise financial licences. The Central Bank of the Comoros publishes an official list of the financial institutions it has authorised; entities holding only an AOFA or MISA permit do not appear on it. The Central Bank names the problem on its own anti-money-laundering page, saying the Union has faced the problem of offshore banks on the island of Anjouan for several years and that it has taken measures including court action to close the sites. Separately, a Central Bank communique dated 8 December 2025, republished on its site on 24 February 2026, warns that some entities claim the status of a Comorian financial institution without authorisation, and states that only institutions duly licensed by the Banque Centrale des Comores may carry on financial or banking business under a Comorian licence. That communique does not itself name Anjouan, Mwali, AOFA or MISA, and reporting attributes the December 2025 re-circulation to the Ministry of Finance website. International bodies have flagged the wider offshore-licensing schemes as well, with critical commentary attributed to the World Bank, the IMF, the OECD, and the United States State Department. Verify any Comoros licensing claim against the central bank's own published list before relying on it.

There is no Comoros-specific licensing regime purpose-built for cryptocurrency exchanges or virtual-asset service providers, and no widely recognised, domestically regulated crypto platform serving residents. Where crypto businesses are described as licensed in the Comoros, this typically refers either to authorisation under the general financial framework supervised by the central bank, or to an offshore Anjouan licence.

The Anjouan (AOFA) offshore licence, and the parallel Mwali (MISA) licence, are marketed internationally as a fast, inexpensive way for crypto firms to obtain a permit, often for companies operating outside the Comoros. The critical caveat, repeated across legal-services and industry sources, is that these licences are not recognised by the Comoros national government and should not be relied upon as robust supervision. In November 2025, for example, one trading platform publicised an Anjouan offshore-finance licence valid into 2026; such announcements illustrate that these permits exist and are actively issued, but they do not establish that the entity is soundly regulated at a national level. Reporting also notes practical friction: because the central bank treats these island approvals as unauthorised, some international banks and payment providers reportedly decline or escalate onboarding once an AOFA or MISA document is identified as non-regulatory.

For an individual buying or holding crypto, the practical takeaway is that there is no domestic, regulated exchange to rely on and no Comoros investor-protection scheme. The Central Bank's published list of licensed institutions names four banks, Banque de Developpement des Comores, AFG Bank Comores, Exim Bank Comores and Banque Federale de Commerce, plus three decentralised financial institutions, l'Union des Meck, l'Union des Sanduk d'Anjouan and l'Union des Sanduk de Moheli, and no exchange or virtual-asset service provider appears on it. Use established, reputable international exchanges, and steer clear of any business whose only claim to being regulated in the Comoros rests on an Anjouan or Mwali offshore licence. To check a claim, look for the entity on the Central Bank of the Comoros list of authorised financial institutions; if it appears only on an island offshore-authority register, treat that as a red flag. Verify any licensing claim independently before sending funds.

The Comoros has no crypto-specific tax rule. The governing text is the Code General des Impots, adopted by loi n°11-07 of 3 May 2011 and promulgated by decret n°11-151 of 23 July 2011, and administered by the Administration Generale des Impots et Domaines (AGID). That absence of a clear regime is itself the most important fact: it does not necessarily mean crypto gains are tax-free, only that there is no purpose-built framework spelling out how they are treated.

In the absence of crypto-specific provisions, any tax consequences would generally have to be inferred from existing general tax law, for instance rules on income, business profits, or corporate tax as applied by the Comoran tax authorities. With no crypto head in the tax code, the ordinary heads are what remain: impot sur les societes on company profits, BAAIC on agricultural, artisanal, industrial and commercial profits, BNC on non-commercial professional income, IRPP on individual income, and the taxe sur la consommation, all collected by AGID. No Comorian authority has published a ruling on how any of them applies to crypto, so this is the default position rather than a stated one. Whether a particular activity is taxed, and how, can depend on factors such as residency, whether the activity is occasional investing or a business, and how the proceeds are characterised. Because there is no clear, officially published crypto tax schedule for the Comoros, this guide does not quote specific rates, thresholds, or exemptions for individuals, as doing so would risk being inaccurate.

• Do not assume no rules means no tax. General tax law can still reach crypto income or gains.
• Keep thorough records. Save dates, amounts, franc or euro values, fees, and counterparties for every transaction so any liability can be calculated and evidenced.
• Get local advice. A qualified Comoran tax professional or the national tax authority is the only reliable source for your specific situation.

For general background on how crypto is taxed around the world, see our guide to crypto taxes. This is general information, not tax advice; never rely on a tax figure for the Comoros seen online without confirming it with an official source or a professional.

The Comoros has anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing (AML/CFT) obligations, and these are the rules most likely to touch crypto in practice, because regulated banks and money-transfer operators must apply customer due diligence.

The Comoros operates a financial intelligence unit (FIU) that receives and analyses suspicious transaction reports from financial-sector entities. To meet international standards on operational independence, the FIU was relocated out of the central bank. The BCC is responsible for AML/CFT supervision of much of the regulated financial sector, though assessments note resource and implementation gaps.

The Comoros is assessed through GIABA, the FATF-style regional body for West Africa, and a Mutual Evaluation Report following an on-site visit in 2023 was adopted in May 2024. That evaluation found the country largely compliant on a small number of FATF Recommendations and partially or non-compliant on many others, reflecting an AML/CFT system still being built out. Importantly, as of the latest FATF listings the Comoros is not named on the FATF grey list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring. You can review the official position on the FATF Comoros country page and the GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report (May 2024).

For a typical user, the AML/KYC reality is felt at the platform level: reputable international exchanges will require identity verification (KYC), and banks may scrutinise transfers connected to crypto. Informal, peer-to-peer channels carry higher risk and far less recourse.

There is no widely recognised domestic, regulated platform, so Comoran residents who buy crypto typically use international exchanges or peer-to-peer arrangements, subject to whatever access those platforms grant and to the country's banking and foreign-exchange realities.

• Foreign-exchange controls. The Comoros operates exchange controls around the franc's peg, and moving money in and out through formal channels can involve restrictions and documentation, which can complicate funding an overseas exchange account or converting crypto back into local currency.
• Banking and payment access. Card and bank-transfer support for crypto platforms may be limited; some international exchanges may not fully serve Comoran customers, and payment options can be narrow.
• Platform availability. Confirm in advance that a given exchange accepts users in the Comoros and supports a usable funding and withdrawal method before committing funds.

Remittances are central to the Comoran economy; diaspora transfers, with a substantial community in France, have amounted to a large share of gross domestic product in recent years. This is the use case where crypto draws the most interest, since Bitcoin or euro- or dollar-pegged stablecoins can in principle settle quickly and may undercut some traditional fees. The bottleneck is converting to and from Comorian francs at each end, where local liquidity is thin and exchange controls bite. Many families still rely on established money-transfer operators.

Use established, reputable global exchanges where possible, complete identity (KYC) verification, enable strong security such as a unique password and two-factor authentication, and be especially cautious with peer-to-peer deals, which carry higher fraud and counterparty risk in a market with little regulatory recourse. This is not financial advice; assess each platform's security, fees, and access yourself.

There is no specific Comoran law that bans or licenses Bitcoin mining, but the country is poorly suited to it for practical reasons. Electricity supply is limited and historically unreliable, with periodic outages, and power is relatively expensive to generate on small island grids that depend significantly on imported fuel. Large-scale, energy-hungry proof-of-work mining is therefore difficult to operate economically or sustainably here.

Some commentary frames Comoran mining in terms of renewable energy, such as solar, as a way to reduce strain on the grid. While renewables are a sensible direction for the country's wider energy needs, they do not by themselves make industrial mining viable given the underlying cost and capacity constraints. For most people in the Comoros, mining is best understood as marginal or hobbyist at most, not an industrial opportunity. Anyone seriously considering it should weigh electricity availability and cost, grid reliability, equipment-import logistics, the uncertain tax treatment of any mined coins (verify locally), and any general business-registration or energy rules that might apply. This is general information, not advice.

Several threads define the current moment for crypto in the Comoros, even though no comprehensive national crypto law has been enacted.

• AML/CFT assessment. The GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report adopted in May 2024 set out the country's compliance gaps and is the most authoritative recent benchmark for the AML/CFT system that indirectly governs crypto flows. As of the latest FATF listings into early 2026, the Comoros is not on the grey list.
• FIU independence. The financial intelligence unit was moved out of the central bank to strengthen operational independence in line with international expectations.
• Ongoing Anjouan and Mwali licensing. Offshore Anjouan (AOFA) and Mwali (MISA) crypto and finance licences continued to be issued and marketed through 2025, including publicised grants to trading platforms valid into 2026. This keeps alive the central caution that such licences are not nationally recognised.
• Central-bank pushback on offshore licences. The Central Bank restated its position in a communique dated 8 December 2025, republished on its own site on 24 February 2026, warning that entities claim Comorian financial-institution status without authorisation and that only institutions it has licensed may operate under a Comorian licence, with the warning also re-circulated via the Ministry of Finance around December 2025, and that some international payment and banking providers now decline entities relying on those permits.
• No dedicated national crypto framework. Up to 2026 there is still no published, comprehensive Union-level law authorising or licensing crypto-asset services for residents.

Because the picture is sparse and can shift quietly, always confirm the current position with the official sources listed below rather than relying on undated third-party summaries.

The Comoros combines the universal crypto risks, such as price volatility, scams and phishing, platform or custody failure, and lost private keys, with several country-specific ones.

• No clear legal framework. There is little consumer protection and no obvious domestic body to appeal to if something goes wrong; crypto has no legal-tender status and no investor-compensation scheme.
• Conversion friction. Foreign-exchange controls and thin local liquidity make converting between crypto and Comorian francs difficult.
• Infrastructure. Limited and sometimes unreliable electricity and connectivity constrain participation.
• Offshore-licence confusion. The disputed Anjouan offshore-licence ecosystem creates a real risk of dealing with entities whose Comoros regulation is more marketing than substance.

Sensible principles apply everywhere: invest only what you can afford to lose, avoid putting essential or remittance money at risk, be deeply sceptical of any scheme promising guaranteed returns or of unlicensed advisers, and use secure storage, whether a reputable platform with strong security or self-custody in a hardware wallet for larger holdings. This guide makes no price predictions. This is general information, not financial advice.

Because reliable, crypto-specific Comoran guidance is scarce and much of what circulates online comes from licence-selling intermediaries, it is essential to check the position against primary official sources before acting.

• Central Bank of the Comoros (Banque Centrale des Comores): the monetary authority and financial-institution supervisor. Official website: banque-comores.km.
• FATF Comoros country page: the official record of the country's AML/CFT status and listings, useful for confirming the grey-list position. See the FATF Comoros page.
• GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report (May 2024): the detailed regional assessment of the Comoros AML/CFT framework. See the GIABA report page.

For broader context, see our guide to crypto regulation and the regulation hub. Remember that this article is general information as of 2026 and is not legal, tax, or financial advice; for your specific situation, verify the current rules directly with the Central Bank of the Comoros or a qualified Comoran professional before acting.

Facts reviewed: 12 August 2026. Page updated: 12 August 2026.

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