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| Dimension |
Pinned 🇬🇬 Guernsey partly open Verified 2026-10-01
|
🇮🇲 Isle of Man
partly open
Verified 2026-08-15
|
|---|---|---|
| Licence type | Part III VASP Licence under the Lending, Credit and Finance (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2022 ('LCF Law'). Covers virtual asset exchange, transfer, safekeeping/custody, administration, and issuance/ICO services. This is a genuine substantive licensing regime (not merely AML registration), which came into full effect 1 July 2023 (application window opened 1 February 2023). | No dedicated/bespoke crypto licence exists. Virtual asset/virtual-currency businesses not otherwise regulated must register as a 'Designated Business' with the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (IOMFSA) under the Designated Businesses (Registration and Oversight) Act 2015 (DBRO Act). This is an AML/CTF registration regime only, it confers no market authorisation, conduct-of-business, or prudential status akin to a licence. |
| Regulator | Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC). | Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (IOMFSA), administering DBRO Act registration (oversight of some professions may be delegated to a recognised delegated oversight body, e.g. legal/accountancy bodies). |
| Capital requirement | Guernsey capital requirement is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man capital requirement is included in the £349 pass. |
| Timeline to authorisation | Guernsey timeline to authorisation is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man timeline to authorisation is included in the £349 pass. |
| Local substance | Guernsey local substance is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man local substance is included in the £349 pass. |
| Application cost | Guernsey application cost is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man application cost is included in the £349 pass. |
| Ongoing cost | Guernsey ongoing cost is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man ongoing cost is included in the £349 pass. |
| Passporting | Guernsey passporting is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man passporting is included in the £349 pass. |
| MiCA CASPs approved | Guernsey mica casps approved is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man mica casps approved is included in the £349 pass. |
| Key restrictions | Guernsey key restrictions is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man key restrictions is included in the £349 pass. |
| Recent changes | The Lending, Credit and Finance (Amendment) Rules, 2026 were made on 9 September 2026 and took effect on 1 October 2026. They removed the blanket restriction on VASPs serving retail customers, removed the VASP-specific environmental reporting requirement, and reduced duplicate licensing for firms already regulated by the GFSC. The GFSC says work continues on stablecoins, digital custody and technology for anti-financial-crime compliance. | Following its 2024 consultation on a more substantive crypto licensing regime, the IOMFSA retained the current DBRO-Act registration approach for now and may reconsider it in a future policy cycle. The consolidated Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (Fees) Order 2026, following a consultation that closed on 18 December 2025 and a feedback statement on 17 February 2026, took effect on 1 April 2026 and raised most fees, including designated-business fees, by about 2.9 per cent in line with CPI. |
| Difficulty rating | Guernsey difficulty rating is included in the £349 pass. | Isle of Man difficulty rating is included in the £349 pass. |
Informational only, not legal advice. A delta compares the sortable figure only (capital, timeline, cost, difficulty, passporting, approvals); it is not a judgement on overall suitability. Verify with qualified counsel before acting.
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