Crypto License in the Seychelles (2026)

The framework

The Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2024, Act 12 of 2024, was gazetted on 30 August 2024 and is administered by the Financial Services Authority. It replaced an approach that leaned on general anti-money-laundering registration with a dedicated licensing regime, which matters in a jurisdiction long used as a registration base for offshore exchanges. The Act's First Schedule sets out the activities a licensee may carry on, and its Second Schedule sets the fees.

What it costs

Every figure below is written into the Act's own Second Schedule, in Seychelles rupees. The US dollar equivalents are approximate, converted at about SCR 14 to USD 1 in August 2026, and they move with the rupee.

Application fees, paid once:

• License application: SCR 75,000, about USD 5,400
• Registration application, the lighter category: SCR 22,500, about USD 1,600

Annual fees are a base fee plus a fee for the activity you are licensed for:

• Base fee, every category: SCR 75,000, about USD 5,400
• Virtual Asset Wallet Provider: plus SCR 75,000, so SCR 150,000 a year, about USD 11,000
• Virtual Assets Investment Provider: plus SCR 150,000, so SCR 225,000 a year, about USD 16,000
• Virtual Asset Exchange: plus SCR 300,000, so SCR 375,000 a year, about USD 27,000
• Virtual Asset Broking: plus SCR 375,000, so SCR 450,000 a year, about USD 32,000

Broking, not exchange, carries the highest annual charge. Two smaller fees round out the schedule: SCR 2,250 to inspect the register of licensees, and SCR 1,500 for a copy of a licensee's current license.

When the money is due

Annual fees are payable in January each year. A license first granted outside the January to March window has its first year pro-rated on a quarterly basis, so a license issued mid-year does not cost a full year of fees.

The four categories

The Act names wallet provision, exchange, broking, and investment provision, and the fee schedule is organized around the same four. The First Schedule defines what each category permits, and a licensee may not operate outside that scope. Pick the category before you budget: the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive is SCR 300,000 a year, roughly USD 21,000.

What to watch

Seychelles is unusually easy to fact-check, because the numbers are in the statute rather than in a circular that can be revised quietly. Read the gazetted PDF and confirm any quote against the Second Schedule yourself. Licensing consultancies advertise Seychelles VASP costs across a wide range, and a figure that does not match the schedule is either a bundled professional fee or an invention. Ask any advisor to point at the line in the Act.