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Quick answer — Congo, 2026

• Legal: Not legal tender; virtual asset activities prohibited in the DRC since 1 July 2025; banks barred under CEMAC in Brazzaville
• Tax: No crypto tax in either country; in the DRC, converting crypto into currency is instead punished by a fine of up to three times the sum converted
• Buying: Mostly global exchanges, P2P and mobile money

"Congo" can mean two separate neighbouring countries, and their cryptocurrency rules are not the same. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), capital Kinshasa, uses the Congolese franc (CDF) and has its own central bank, the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC). The Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) is a member of the CEMAC monetary union, uses the Central African CFA franc (XAF) and sits under the regional central bank, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), with its financial market supervised by COSUMAF. Because of this, the legal treatment of Bitcoin and other crypto-assets differs between the two countries. This guide explains the current 2026 position in both, covering legal status, regulators, key frameworks, exchange and VASP licensing, taxation, anti-money-laundering rules, practical use, mining, recent developments, consumer risk and how to verify everything with official sources. For wider background see our guide to crypto regulation.

This page is general information current as of 2026 and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Crypto rules in Central Africa are evolving and several measures are still draft proposals. Always confirm the current position with the named official regulator and a qualified local professional before acting.

Next: Buying safely without a local exchange · How crypto is taxed
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On this page: Legal status · Who regulates it · Taxes · How to buy · Mining

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers are prohibited. Article 22 bis, inserted into the anti-money-laundering law by Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025, states that virtual asset activities and virtual asset service provider activities are prohibited in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and punishes anyone who converts virtual assets into any currency quoted by the Banque Centrale du Congo with a fine of up to three times the sum converted. The prohibition is written as a ban on activities, so simply holding Bitcoin is not expressly criminalised, but there is no safe harbour and no implementing guidance. Crypto is not legal tender and is not an official means of payment: prices must be charged and settled in Congolese francs or, in practice, US dollars, so merchants are not obliged to accept Bitcoin. The Banque Centrale du Congo has taken a cautious, sceptical stance and has issued public warnings about unapproved schemes presenting themselves as cryptocurrency.

In the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), the position is set at the CEMAC regional level. Neither the national government nor the regional central bank treats crypto as currency. Banks, microfinance institutions and payment providers are barred from facilitating crypto transactions, while specialist digital-asset service providers can in principle be licensed by the regional financial market regulator. Individual ownership is not explicitly criminalised, but the formal financial system is largely closed to crypto.

Neither country has made Bitcoin legal tender. For context, the nearby Central African Republic briefly adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2022 and reversed that status in 2023; neither Congo has followed the legal-tender route.

There is no single "Congo" regulator, because two different monetary systems are involved.

• The Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) oversees monetary policy and the payment system. It has issued cautionary public notices about crypto and is expected to play the central role if a dedicated framework is enacted. Official site: Banque Centrale du Congo.
• Government ministries responsible for finance and the digital economy have led work on a future digital-asset framework that could license exchanges and token issuers.

• The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) is the common central bank for the six CEMAC states, including Congo-Brazzaville. Official site: BEAC.
• The Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) supervises banks and is the source of the 2022 restriction on financial institutions handling crypto.
• The Financial Market Supervisory Commission (COSUMAF) regulates the regional capital market and is the body that can authorise digital-asset service providers. Official site: COSUMAF.

Neither country has a licensing code for crypto, but the DRC has taken the opposite route and legislated a prohibition. Article 22 bis of Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025, which amends anti-money-laundering Law 22/068 of 27 December 2022, bans virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers outright and entered into force on the date of its promulgation. For Congo-Brazzaville the rules sit at the CEMAC regional level, where supervised banks are barred from crypto and a licensing route exists on paper but has not been used.

• COBAC Decision D-2022/071 of 6 May 2022 prohibits banks, microfinance institutions and payment service providers under COBAC supervision from holding, exchanging, converting or settling cryptocurrency transactions, including against the CFA franc.
• The COSUMAF General Regulation of 23 May 2023 created a framework recognising digital-asset service providers as market intermediaries. Its provisions require a digital-asset service provider to obtain a COSUMAF licence and define services such as custody, exchange and operating a trading platform. This produces a split system: traditional banks are barred from crypto, while specialist VASPs can in principle be authorised. In practice no such licence has yet been reported as issued.

• The DRC now has an express statutory prohibition. Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025 amended anti-money-laundering Law 22/068 of 27 December 2022 and inserted article 22 bis, which prohibits virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers, requires the competent authority to identify providers operating without a licence or registration, and punishes conversion of virtual assets into any currency quoted by the Banque Centrale du Congo with a fine of up to three times the sum converted.
• A draft Digital-Asset Bill reported as under inter-ministerial review in 2025 has not been traced to any published Congolese text. What is on the statute book is the prohibition in article 22 bis of Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025, which bans virtual asset activities rather than licensing them. As of 2026 this should be treated as proposed rather than confirmed enacted law; verify its status with the BCC and official gazette before relying on it.

Requirements differ sharply between the two countries.

Under the COSUMAF General Regulation of 23 May 2023, a digital-asset service provider must apply to and be licensed by COSUMAF to operate legally in the CEMAC market. The regulation covers services including custody of digital assets, exchanging crypto against legal tender or other crypto, operating a trading platform, and order reception, portfolio management or advice. At the same time, COBAC-supervised banks and payment providers cannot facilitate these transactions, which constrains how a licensed VASP can connect to the banking system. Anyone planning to offer exchange services should check the current instructions on the COSUMAF site.

The DRC does not licence exchanges at all: under article 22 bis of Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025 virtual asset service provider activity is prohibited, so there is no application to make. Reported drafts describe a future Digital-Asset Service Provider (DASP) licence regime, but until the bill is enacted there is no established domestic licence to obtain, and most users rely on international platforms and peer-to-peer trading. Treat any specific licensing terms circulating online as draft proposals until officially confirmed.

No crypto-specific tax provision could be traced in any published text in either country, and you should not rely on a quoted rate or threshold seen online. In the DRC the question is largely academic, because article 22 bis of Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025 prohibits virtual asset activities and penalises conversion into currency.

In the DRC, reporting around the draft Digital-Asset Bill has referenced a 5% withholding on crypto-to-fiat conversions above roughly US$5,000. No such levy appears in Law 22/068 of 27 December 2022 or in Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025, and the figure should be disregarded. The number that does exist is a penalty rather than a tax: article 22 bis punishes conversion of virtual assets into any currency quoted by the Banque Centrale du Congo with a fine of up to three times the sum converted. Where crypto activity produces income or gains today, it may fall under existing tax categories such as income or business profits depending on how the activity is characterised.

In Congo-Brazzaville, there is no widely publicised crypto-specific tax. General income, business-profit and capital rules may apply depending on circumstances.

Because outcomes depend on residency, the nature of the activity and the amounts involved, confirm your obligations with a qualified local tax adviser and the national tax authority before assuming any treatment. See our crypto tax overview for general concepts. This section is informational only and is not tax advice.

Anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer obligations are the area where formal rules most clearly touch crypto in the region.

In the CEMAC zone, including Congo-Brazzaville, financial institutions operate under regional anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing standards, and COBAC supervises compliance. The COSUMAF framework for digital-asset service providers brings licensed VASPs within the supervised market, which implies customer due-diligence and reporting expectations consistent with the wider regime. The 2022 COBAC restriction itself was justified partly on financial-stability and consumer-protection grounds.

In the DRC, anti-money-laundering law now addresses crypto directly. Law 22/068 of 27 December 2022, as amended by Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025, defines virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, prohibits their activities, and requires the competent authority to assess the money-laundering and terrorist-financing risks they create. The enacted law sets an express statutory threshold, where the 2022 law had left the figure to a ministerial order. Article 92 bis, inserted by Law 25/048, requires an electronic money institution to report to the Cellule nationale des renseignements financiers any funds transmission carried out from a cash deposit or by means of electronic money, as a single operation or several apparently linked operations, in Congolese francs or another currency, globally equal to or above USD 3,000.

In practice, reputable international exchanges already apply identity verification (KYC) to users in both countries. Complete those checks honestly, keep records, and be aware that foreign-exchange and reporting rules may apply to larger transfers. Verify the current requirements with the BCC or COSUMAF as relevant.

Neither Congo hosts a significant base of domestically licensed crypto exchanges, so most users rely on global platforms, peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplaces and mobile-money rails.

Buying and selling is generally possible through international exchanges and P2P services, often funded via mobile money or US dollars. Because there is no confirmed domestic licensing or deposit-protection regime, users carry counterparty and custody risk themselves.

The 2022 COBAC restriction on banks and payment providers makes bank-based on-ramps unreliable, so users frequently turn to P2P trading and international platforms, accepting greater operational risk and weaker legal protection.

There is no established, well-documented network of Bitcoin ATMs in either country; physical crypto kiosks are rare to non-existent across most of Central Africa. Most residents convert between cash and crypto through mobile money combined with P2P trades or online exchanges. Practical pointers for either country: prefer reputable platforms with strong security records, complete identity verification truthfully, keep transaction records, watch for scams on informal P2P channels, confirm a service genuinely supports your country before depositing, and never transfer funds you cannot afford to lose.

The DRC is of particular interest for mining because of its substantial hydropower potential, including in the east of the country, where small operations have reportedly used cheap renewable electricity. Mining is not named in Congolese law, but it no longer sits in neutral space. Article 22 bis of Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025 prohibits virtual asset activities generally, and separately punishes conversion of virtual assets into any currency quoted by the Banque Centrale du Congo with a fine of up to three times the sum converted, which is the step a miner takes to be paid in local money. There is no mining licence to obtain and no exemption.

Several factors complicate mining in the region:

• Energy and infrastructure: access to reliable power and connectivity is uneven, and grid constraints can limit larger projects.
• Environmental and community impact: energy use, local heating, noise and e-waste are genuine concerns, with limited monitoring capacity.
• Governance and security risk: conditions in some eastern areas, together with weak enforcement infrastructure, add operational risk.

In the Republic of the Congo, there is no notable regulated mining industry, and the broader CEMAC stance offers little encouragement. Anyone considering a mining operation in either country should assess electricity rights, environmental obligations, hardware import rules and political risk, and obtain local legal advice before committing capital.

The most important recent theme is that Central African authorities are actively working on crypto policy rather than ignoring it.

• BEAC and IMF work on a regional framework. From 23 to 27 February 2026 the BEAC and the IMF held a strategic seminar in Yaounde with COBAC, COSUMAF and GABAC, to build institutional capacity on central bank digital currency and to define a harmonised and secure framework for crypto-assets. No draft text, consultation or publication date has been announced. As of mid-2026, treat the framework as work in progress and confirm the current text and status on the BEAC site.
• Digital CFA franc. The BEAC has publicly favoured developing a digital CFA franc as its response to dollar-backed stablecoins, rather than opening the zone to private tokens, with the governor stressing a single parity of one CFA franc to one digital CFA franc.
• DRC Digital-Asset Bill. What the DRC Parliament actually adopted in 2025 was a prohibition, not a licensing regime. Law 25/048 of 1 July 2025 inserted article 22 bis into the anti-money-laundering law, banning virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers and penalising conversion of virtual assets into any currency quoted by the Banque Centrale du Congo. No DASP licensing text and no conversion levy could be traced to any published Congolese text. Reporting also described plans for a regulatory sandbox. As of 2026 readers should treat these specific terms as proposals pending official enactment.

Because these measures are evolving, dates and details should be re-checked against primary sources before you rely on them.

The defining feature of crypto in both Congos is uncertainty, and consumer protection is limited. Key risks to keep in mind:

• Weak recourse: with little or no confirmed domestic licensing and deposit-protection framework, recovering funds after fraud, hacks or platform failure can be very difficult.
• Scams: the BCC has warned about schemes posing as cryptocurrency to collect savings illegally; guaranteed-return offers and unknown P2P counterparties are common danger points.
• Market volatility: Bitcoin and other crypto-assets are highly volatile and can lose value rapidly. This guide makes no price predictions and does not recommend buying or selling.
• Conversion friction: turning crypto back into spendable local currency can be harder than in markets with mature, regulated exchanges, especially under the CEMAC restrictions affecting Brazzaville.
• Regulatory change: rules could tighten, impose new taxes or reporting duties, or change access.

If you choose to participate, common-sense risk management applies: only commit money you can afford to lose, be wary of guaranteed returns, use reputable services, keep good records, and consider professional advice. This section is informational only and is not financial advice.

Because rules are fragmented and changing, always check primary sources rather than relying on general summaries. The key official bodies are:

• Banque Centrale du Congo (DRC central bank): public notices, monetary policy and warnings at bcc.cd.
• Bank of Central African States (BEAC): regional monetary policy and crypto-framework announcements at beac.int.
• COSUMAF (CEMAC financial market regulator): the regulation and instructions governing digital-asset service providers at cosumaf.org.

For independent context on the DRC business and legal environment, the US State Department 2025 Investment Climate Statement for the DRC is a useful government reference. You can also compare with our overview pages on crypto regulation by country and how crypto regulation works. This page is general information current as of 2026 and is not legal advice; confirm any specific point with the named official regulator before acting.

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

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