Costa Rica Curated

DeFi Intel Research Desk2026-07-14Americas

Is crypto legal in Costa Rica? (2026)

Yes — cryptocurrency is legal in Costa Rica. Current status: Legal — not legal tender; VASP AML registration incoming. Oversight sits with SUGEF (with CONASSIF, BCCR, ICD Financial Intelligence Unit). Full details — governing law, licensing, tax and dated enforcement history — follow below (last reviewed 2026-07-14).

Framework: Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 7786, as amended by Law No. 10961 (new Article 15 quater), published in La Gaceta (Alcance N.° 78) on 19 June 2026 and entering into force three months later — around 19 September 2026. No stand-alone "crypto law": virtual assets sit inside general financial, AML/CFT and tax rules.

For years Costa Rica occupied a regulatory gray area: crypto was neither banned nor specifically regulated. Holding, buying and selling crypto has long been lawful by private agreement, but the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) has been consistent that crypto-assets are not legal tender, carry no state backing, and — because they are not issued by a foreign central bank — do not count as foreign currency under the exchange regime. The BCCR's standing message, set out in its 2021 policy work on digital currencies and crypto-assets, is that Costa Ricans may invest in crypto voluntarily but do so entirely at their own risk, with no legal recourse for losses driven by volatility. That gap has now begun to close on the anti-money-laundering side.

The turning point is Law No. 10961. Originating as legislative file No. 25.340, the reform amends Law No. 7786 — the country's principal statute on narcotics, money laundering and terrorist financing — to bring virtual-asset service providers (VASPs) into the AML/CFT supervisory perimeter. The Legislative Assembly approved it in first debate in July 2025 and unanimously in second (final) debate on 27 May 2026; the Executive signed and published it on 19 June 2026. It is not yet in force at the date of this profile: the statute takes effect three months after publication, on or about 19 September 2026.

The 2026 VASP reform

New Article 15 quater of Law No. 7786 defines a VASP perimeter — exchanges, custodians, transfer and trading platforms, wallet providers and crypto-facing fintechs — and imposes a single core obligation with a supervisory tail. Covered providers must register with SUGEF (Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras, the General Superintendence of Financial Institutions), which will supervise them for AML/CFT using a risk-based approach. Costa Rican officials have stressed one point repeatedly: registration is not a licence or an authorisation to operate, and does not signal government approval of any business model — it means only that the provider agrees to follow AML/CFT rules. Regulated financial institutions and other reporting entities are, in turn, restricted from dealing with VASPs that are required to register but have not.

The statute is a framework; the operational detail is delegated. CONASSIF (Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero, the National Council for the Supervision of the Financial System) must issue implementing regulations — defining registration thresholds, scope, exclusions and technical requirements, including the travel-rule specifications — within three months. Suspicious-transaction reports flow to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas (ICD). Core obligations mirror the FATF standard: customer and beneficial-owner identification, ongoing risk-based due diligence, politically-exposed-person controls, record retention, transfer monitoring, and enhanced controls for higher-risk products and jurisdictions.

Non-compliance carries real teeth. Sanctions are set at fines of 5% to 50% of the total transaction amount, or alternatively two to one hundred base salaries — roughly ₡924,400 to ₡46.2 million (about US$1,800 to US$90,000), scaled to the volume of unreported activity — alongside publication of final sanctions and inspection powers.

Tax treatment

Costa Rica has no crypto-specific tax statute; the tax authority (Dirección General de Tributación, DGT) instead applies general rules. In private letter ruling No. MH-DGT-OF-0460-2023, issued on 23 August 2023, the DGT characterised crypto-assets as intangible ("virtual") assets and mapped them onto existing income and consumption taxes. The decisive feature is Costa Rica's territorial system: only Costa Rican-source income is taxable, so gains on crypto traded through international exchanges are generally treated as foreign-source and fall outside the net. (Note that a private letter ruling is, under Article 119 of the Tax Code, informational only.)

Where crypto income is Costa Rican-source, the applicable regimes are:

• Capital-gains rate (personal holdings): 15% flat, under the Tax on Capital Income and Capital Gains created by Law No. 9635 (Ley de Fortalecimiento de las Finanzas Públicas), in force since 1 July 2019.
• Holding-period rule: none — no reduction or tapering for length of holding.
• Crypto businesses (exchange, custody, mining, service fees): corporate income tax (standard rate 30%, with reduced brackets for smaller companies) plus 13% VAT (IVA) on the services provided.
• Non-resident providers: remittance-abroad withholding applies when they render crypto services to Costa Rican residents.

Travel rule applicability

Status: enacted, phasing in. Before Law No. 10961 there was no VASP-specific travel-rule obligation in Costa Rica. Article 15 quater now incorporates FATF Recommendation 16: VASPs must obtain and retain originator and beneficiary information on crypto-asset transfers to FATF standards, and monitor those transfers. The operative thresholds and technical mechanics are left to CONASSIF's implementing regulation, so the rule becomes practically binding once the law is in force (around 19 September 2026) and those specifications are issued. Exact thresholds and de-minimis treatment: pending verification until CONASSIF publishes the regulation.

Notable regulatory events

• 2021. The BCCR sets out its standing position in its digital-currency / crypto-asset policy work: crypto is not legal tender, is not state-backed, and is used at the holder's own risk; the bank also signals it sees no need for a domestic CBDC.
• 23 August 2023. The DGT issues private letter ruling No. MH-DGT-OF-0460-2023, clarifying that crypto-assets are intangible assets subject to the capital-income/capital-gains, corporate-income and VAT regimes.
• July 2025. The Legislative Assembly approves the VASP anti-money-laundering reform in first debate, framing it around FATF alignment and financial-crime risk.
• 27 May 2026. The Assembly approves the reform (file No. 25.340) unanimously in second and final debate.
• 19 June 2026. Law No. 10961 is published in La Gaceta, Alcance N.° 78, adding Article 15 quater to Law No. 7786.
• ~19 September 2026. The law enters into force (three months after publication); CONASSIF's implementing regulations — thresholds, scope and travel-rule specifications — fall due in the same window.

Public licensed CASP list

There is no public register of licensed CASPs in Costa Rica yet, and — importantly — the incoming regime does not create a "licence" in the first place: SUGEF maintains an AML registration, not an authorisation. A centralised VASP registry is contemplated once Law No. 10961 is in force and CONASSIF has issued the technical rules that define who must register and how. Until then, no authoritative registry exists to mirror. Once SUGEF publishes the VASP register, DeFi Intel will mirror it. Submit known Costa Rica VASPs to [email protected].

Comparison to neighbours

Compare Costa Rica crypto regulation with three geographically adjacent jurisdictions:

Doing business in Costa Rica — practical notes

Until roughly September 2026 there is no mandatory VASP registration in force, so operators currently face no crypto-specific licensing gate — but that window is closing. Once Law No. 10961 takes effect, any provider within the Article 15 quater perimeter that serves Costa Rican clients must register with SUGEF and stand up an AML/CFT programme (KYC, beneficial-ownership checks, PEP screening, transfer monitoring, suspicious-transaction reporting to the ICD's Financial Intelligence Unit, and travel-rule data capture). Two structural points matter for diligence: registration is compliance, not a seal of approval — officials are explicit that it neither authorises the business nor guarantees it; and regulated banks and reporting entities are barred from dealing with VASPs that should be registered but are not, which sharpens the historic problem of limited banking access for crypto firms. On tax, model around the 15% capital-gains rate for Costa Rican-source personal gains, the territorial exemption for foreign-source trading, and corporate income tax plus 13% VAT for service businesses. The single most important near-term document is CONASSIF's implementing regulation, which will fix the registration thresholds, scope exclusions and travel-rule specifications — monitor SUGEF and CONASSIF communications through late 2026.

Methodology and sources

This profile was researched and updated by DeFi Intel's research desk on 2026-07-14 from the primary and secondary sources listed below, including Costa Rican legislative records, tax-authority guidance and BCCR policy material. Claims that could not be verified against a source are omitted or marked pending — we do not republish unverified third-party datasets. Submit corrections and primary-source links to [email protected].

Sources

• Consortium Legal — Costa Rica introduces a VASP framework (Law No. 10961 / Article 15 quater of Law 7786), June 2026
• AG Legal — Regulación cripto en Costa Rica: nueva Ley VASP (La Gaceta Alcance N.° 78, 19 June 2026; entry into force, CONASSIF, penalties)
• The Tico Times — Costa Rica crypto bill approved (second reading, file No. 25.340, 27 May 2026; penalties)
• The Tico Times — Costa Rica moves forward with crypto regulation (first-debate approval, July 2025)
• La Nación — Costa Rica to require crypto providers to register with SUGEF and apply AML controls
• EY — Costa Rican tax authority private letter ruling No. MH-DGT-OF-0460-2023 on crypto-asset tax treatment (23 Aug 2023)
• PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries — Costa Rica: capital-income/capital-gains tax (15%) and territorial system
• PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries — Costa Rica: VAT (IVA, 13% standard) and corporate income tax
• Ministerio de Hacienda (DGT) — Tarifas de rentas de capital y ganancias de capital (15%)
• Banco Central de Costa Rica — Publications on digital currencies, crypto-assets and fintech (not legal tender; use at own risk)