Is crypto legal in Brunei? Rules & regulation (2026)

Brunei Darussalam co-hosted the 8th Southeast Asia Cryptocurrencies Working Group Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan jointly with UNODC, bringing together technical experts to demonstrate blockchain analytics tools for tracing and seizing digital assets linked to crime. The event followed Brunei's signature on 25 October 2025 of the UN Convention against Cybercrime, which establishes an international framework for evidence sharing and asset recovery.

Brunei regulators and law enforcement shut down another illicit crypto mining facility caught using unauthorized electrical connections, prosecuted under the Electricity Act rather than any dedicated crypto statute. The recurring enforcement pattern confirms that mining remains operationally suppressed through ancillary law, not specific crypto prohibition.

The Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) issued Guidelines No. TRS/G-4/2024/1 effective 1 April 2024, providing the first formal BDCB-issued supervisory guidance explicitly addressing financial institutions' exposure to virtual assets. While not a comprehensive VASP licensing regime, the guidelines impose risk-management and due-diligence expectations on supervised banks and financial institutions touching virtual assets.

The Department of Electrical Services and partner agencies issued a formal public warning that illegally diverting electricity for crypto mining carries criminal penalties under the Electricity Act, including fines and imprisonment. The warning reflected escalating enforcement pressure but still stopped short of any dedicated crypto regulatory action.

A joint 30-person operation by the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF), Department of Electrical Services (DES), and AENBD raided two sites at Kampong Menglait and Kampong Serasa, seizing mining rigs running on stolen electricity. Suspects faced up to three years imprisonment and fines under the Electricity Act, underscoring that mining is suppressed in practice with no legal avenue to operate.

The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) published its Mutual Evaluation Report on Brunei (on-site visit November-December 2022), finding the virtual asset sector entirely unregulated with no locally incorporated VASPs and material gaps in FATF Recommendation 15 compliance. The report called for urgent enactment of a VASP licensing and supervision framework.

A DES-led joint operation raided five premises at Kampong Melabau and Kampong Serusop, uncovering cryptocurrency mining rigs connected to the grid illegally. These were Brunei's first publicly reported enforcement actions against crypto mining, setting the template of electricity-law prosecution that has continued through 2025.

By royal command, the Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) was reconstituted as the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) with the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank Act 2021 entering into force. The expanded mandate included fintech and financial stability responsibilities, providing the institutional basis for future virtual asset oversight.

The Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) published Brunei's founding policy statement on cryptocurrencies, declaring that Bitcoin and other privately-issued digital currencies are not legal tender, are not regulated by AMBD, and carry a high risk of loss without regulatory protection. This cautious non-prohibition stance, neither banning nor recognising crypto, became the bedrock of Brunei's policy for nearly a decade.