VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider)
A term used by FATF for businesses providing virtual-asset services — exchanges, custodial wallets, and similar — subject to AML rules worldwide.
VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) is a term introduced by FATF (the Financial Action Task Force), the international standard-setting body for anti-money-laundering policy, covering exchanges, wallet custodians, and other businesses offering crypto-related services. VASPs are subject to AML obligations, including the Travel Rule — the requirement to pass sender and recipient information between platforms when transferring crypto above a certain threshold.
Individual countries and regions implement the VASP concept differently in their own law — the EU's MiCA regulation, for instance, introduced its own more tightly defined category (CASP) that largely supersedes VASP within the EU, while VASP remains the operative term in most of the rest of the world and in global standards like CARF.
Related terms
Travel Rule
A FATF anti-money-laundering rule requiring exchanges to share sender and recipient information on crypto transfers above a set threshold.
FATF (Financial Action Task Force)
An intergovernmental body that sets global standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, including crypto-specific rules.
CARF (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework)
A global OECD standard for the automatic exchange of tax information about crypto transactions between countries.