A tiny Caribbean archipelago with roughly 30,000 residents is quietly becoming the corporate address of choice for some of crypto’s biggest names. Kraken, Bitstamp, Bitfinex, and 1inch have all established entities in the British Virgin Islands, drawn by a regulatory framework that manages to be both credible and extremely accommodating.
The VASP framework explained
The cornerstone of the BVI’s crypto play is its Virtual Assets Service Providers Act, enacted in 2022. Administered by the BVI Financial Services Commission, the framework creates a formal licensing regime for exchanges, custodians, and other digital asset businesses.
Entry fees for exchange licenses start at $10,000, with annual registration fees reaching up to $25,000. For companies generating millions in daily trading volume, that’s essentially a rounding error.
The recent pipeline of registrations tells the story. Bitstamp Global Ltd obtained its VASP registration in February 2026, covering both exchange and custody activities. Payward, Kraken’s parent company, followed in June 2026 with VASP registrations for multiple entities. Bitfinex has long operated through iFinex, a BVI-incorporated entity. And 1inch is structured as 1Inch Ltd., incorporated in Road Town, Tortola, and governed by BVI law.
