Offshore VASP (oVASP)
A VASP that serves customers in a country from a base elsewhere, often without a licence or registration in that country.
Source
FATF, Updated Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and VASPs (2021); VASPnet
Last reviewed
October 16, 2026
An offshore VASP is registered or licensed in its home jurisdiction but provides services into other countries where it holds no local permission. FATF leaves countries some discretion over whether such firms must be licensed locally, which leaves room for firms to serve markets where they hold no local permission.
Of 78 leading centralised exchanges VASPnet reviewed in July 2026, 50 had no identifiable EU regulatory presence before MiCA, although their public terms did not appear to restrict EU customers. VASPnet's analysis, Registered somewhere, active everywhere, looks at the gap in detail.