Jamaica’s Lower House Passes Virtual Assets Service Providers Act

• Jamaica’s House of Representatives passed the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act, 2026 with three amendments on September 30, 2026
• The law establishes a licensing and anti-money-laundering framework for crypto and digital asset businesses operating in Jamaica, aligned with Financial Action Task Force requirements
• Opposition finance spokesman Julian Robinson argued the bill is “almost entirely defensive” and pushed for provisions covering stablecoins, tokenisation, and industry development alongside risk containment

Jamaica’s House of Representatives passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2026 with three amendments on September 30, 2026, according to a report published by The Gleaner, Jamaica’s newspaper of record, which covered the parliamentary debate.

The Act establishes a licensing and supervisory framework requiring virtual asset service providers operating in Jamaica to meet anti-money-laundering standards comparable to those governing banks, including customer identity verification, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity reporting, in order to satisfy Jamaica’s obligations under Financial Action Task Force standards. Minister of Finance and the Public Service Fayval Williams introduced the bill to the House on September 22, 2026, telling lawmakers that “we are not legislating because virtual assets are good or bad. We are legislating because they are here and our people are exposed.”

During the September 30 debate on final passage, Opposition spokesman on finance Julian Robinson argued the law as drafted was “almost entirely defensive,” prioritizing risk containment over supporting the growth of a domestic digital asset industry. Robinson pushed for the Act to instead “state a dual objective, introduce proportionality, create a staged entry pathway, add stablecoin and tokenisation provisions, and adopt technology neutrality,” and noted that the Financial Services Commission’s innovation mandate carries less statutory weight than its anti-money-laundering requirements under the current text.

The debate also touched on Jamaica’s own experience with state-backed digital currency: Prime Minister Andrew Holness acknowledged that JAM-DEX, the country’s central bank digital currency, has underperformed since its launch, and called for a universal payment platform that could also handle government cash transfers going forward. The bill’s passage through the Lower House with three amendments moves it toward the Senate, the next stage before it can become law.

Jamaica’s push to formalize crypto regulation mirrors a wider Caribbean and Latin American trend of governments moving to bring virtual asset businesses under supervised licensing regimes rather than leaving them unregulated, following similar recent legislative efforts in Taiwan and other jurisdictions. Robinson’s public criticism during debate signals that Jamaica’s opposition sees the current draft as still incomplete on the industry-development side even as it heads toward the Senate, setting up a further round of amendments before Jamaica’s virtual asset framework is finalized.

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