A VASP — Virtual Asset Service Provider — is a business that, as a commercial activity, provides virtual-asset services to others: exchanging crypto for fiat or for other crypto, transferring virtual assets, holding them in custody, or participating in their issuance. The term comes from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and is the building block of most crypto-licensing regimes worldwide, from offshore registrations to full prudential authorisations.
Why the term matters
"VASP" is the hook that pulls a crypto business inside the regulatory perimeter. Once an activity falls within the VASP definition, AML/CFT obligations attach — customer due diligence, record-keeping, suspicious-activity reporting and, critically, the FATF Travel Rule, which requires originator and beneficiary information to travel with a transfer. Many jurisdictions then layer a licence or registration on top.
The label and its precise scope vary by jurisdiction. The EU's MiCA regime regulates the broadly equivalent "crypto-asset service provider" (CASP); Dubai's VARA issues activity-based VASP licences under Dubai Law No. 4 of 2022; the BVI and Cayman run their own VASP Acts. The activities captured — exchange, custody, transfer, issuance, broker-dealer — are similar, but capital, substance and conduct rules differ sharply between regimes.
VASP, CASP and the neighbouring labels
The same underlying activity wears different names by jurisdiction, and the differences are not merely cosmetic. The EU's MiCA regime uses "crypto-asset service provider" (CASP) and adds prudential own-funds and conduct rules on top of AML; FATF-aligned offshore centres such as the BVI and Cayman use "VASP" in dedicated statutes; some regimes speak of "digital asset service providers" (DASP) or activity-specific labels like a virtual-asset trading platform (VATP). A business can be a VASP in one country and fall outside the equivalent definition in another, depending on exactly which activity it performs and for whom.
What it means in practice
If your business touches client crypto for profit, assume you are a VASP until advice tells you otherwise. The practical questions are which activities you carry on, which regime governs them, and what authorisation each requires. The answer drives capital, substance and timeline — compare the options in the Jurisdiction Navigator or read how a VARA VASP licence works in Dubai.