Is crypto legal in New Zealand? Regulation & rules (2026)

Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced an in-principle decision to prohibit New Zealand's 221 crypto ATMs as part of a sweeping AML/CFT reform package. The broader package also includes a NZD 5,000 cap on international cash transfers and new Financial Intelligence Unit powers to compel real-time data from financial institutions.

The third tranche of AML/CFT regulatory amendments came into force, extending compliance obligations to virtual asset service providers offering only safekeeping or administration of digital assets — a category previously outside the Act's scope — completing the three-stage VASP integration begun in 2023.

The Reserve Bank released its summary of responses to the Digital Cash consultation — the largest in RBNZ history, with 18,000+ survey responses — finding strong public concern about cash preservation and privacy, but making no firm commitment to issue a CBDC.

The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2024–25, Emergency Response, and Remedial Matters) Bill incorporated CARF, requiring NZ-based crypto service providers to collect and report user and transaction data to Inland Revenue from 1 April 2026, with first exchange of information due 30 June 2027.

The Reserve Bank launched a public consultation paper on 'Digital Cash' — a retail CBDC intended to complement, not replace, physical cash and operable offline via Bluetooth. The consultation closed 26 July 2024 and was framed partly as a defensive measure to preserve NZ monetary sovereignty against private stablecoins.

Commerce Minister Andrew Bayly released the Government's response to the Finance and Expenditure Committee's 2023 report, committing to an evidence-based, pro-industry approach and pledging to monitor international regulatory developments rather than impose prescriptive bespoke legislation.

Following a two-year inquiry, the Finance and Expenditure Committee published 22 recommendations including a cross-agency digital assets working group, an FMA regulatory sandbox, a new FMA investment class for digital assets, and consumer protection measures — but explicitly stopped short of recommending immediate bespoke legislation.

The Financial Markets Authority published formal commentary stating that all tokens and cryptocurrencies constitute 'securities' under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 and that ICOs may be regulated offers of financial products — establishing New Zealand's foundational securities-law approach to crypto that has governed the sector ever since.

The Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 established New Zealand's primary framework for financial products and services — creating the legal basis under which the FMA subsequently applied securities regulation to crypto tokens and ICOs without requiring bespoke crypto-specific legislation.