s.2Interpretation
2
Section 2Part 3 — Sandbox Licensees

Interpretation

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In this Act — “ application fee ” means the fee that is payable by an applicant for registration or licensing under section 5(3); “ assessment fee ” means the fee that is submitted with an application for registration or a licence to the Authority under section 5(1); “ Authority ” means the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority established under section 5(1) of the Monetary Authority Act (2020 Revision) or such other authority as the Cabinet may by order appoint; “ beneficial owner ” has the same meaning as in regulation 2 of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations (2023 Revision); Section 2 Virtual Asset (Service Providers) Act (2024 Revision) “ beneficiary ”, in relation to a transfer of virtual asset, means the natural or legal person or the legal arrangement that will own the virtual asset on completion of a transfer; “ competent authority ” has the same m eaning as in section 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act (2024 Revision); “ exempted limited partnership ” has the meaning assigned by section 2 of the Exempted Limited Partnership Act (2021 Revision); 1 “ existing licensee ” means a person that is licensed under an y of the other regulatory laws and is not a virtual asset service licensee or a sandbox licensee under this Act ; “ fiat currency ” means currency that is issued by the relevant body in a country or by a government that is designated as legal tender in its country of issuance through, among other things, government decree or law; “ Financial Action Task Force ” means the task force established by the Group of Seven to develop and promote national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing; “ fintech service ” means a service that uses innovative technology to improve, change or enhance financial services but is not a virtual asset service; “ fintech service provider ” means a person who is carrying on fintech service in or from within the Islands but does not provide virtual asset service; “ issuance request ” means a request submitted to the Authority prior to a virtual asset issuance and containing such information as may be specified by the Authority; “ issuance of virtual assets ” or “ virtual asset issuance ” means the sale of newly created virtual assets to the public in or from within the Islands in exchange for fiat currency, other virtual assets or other consideration but does not include the sale of virtual service tokens; “ limited liability partnership ” means a limited liability partnership registered under section 18(4) or 33(4) of the Limited Liability Partnership Act (2023 Revision); 2 “ newly created virtual assets ” means virtual assets which have never been sold, offered or distributed to the public; “ non high-risk jurisdiction ” means any juri sdiction that —
is not on the list of high risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action issued by the Financial Action Task Force; or
is not designated by the Cabinet as a jurisdiction which has serious deficiencies in its compliance with recognised international standards for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2024 Revision) ; Virtual Asset (Service Providers) Act (2024 Revision) Section 2 “ obliged entity ” means a financial institution, person or group of persons that provides a virtual asset service that is licensed or registered and is supervised for virtual asset services by a government regulatory body in another non-high- risk jurisdiction; 3 “ operator ”, in relation to a virtual asset trading platform, means a person or group of persons that exerts effective control over the activities of a virtual asset trading platform however, in the absence of a single entity or group that exerts effective control over the platform, the operator shall be considered to be the owner of the entity under which the platform operates; “ originator ”, in relation to a transfer of virtual asset, means — (a) the natural person, legal person or legal arrangement that places an order with the virtual asset service provider for the virtual asset transfer; or (b) where the transfer is carried out by a virtual asset service provider on behalf of a client or other third party, the client or third party who owned the virtual asset immediately before the transfer; “ partnership ” has the meaning assigned by section 3 of the Partnership Act (2024 Revision) ; 4 “ registered person ” means a person registered in accordance with section 6 ; “ regulatory laws ” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Monetary Authority Act (2020 Revision); “ sandbox licence ” means a licence that is granted in ac cordance with Part 3 of this Act ; “ securities investment business ” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Securities Investment Business Act (2020 Revision) ; “ senior officer ” means a director, managing director, president, chief executive officer, partner, managing partner, general partner, ultimate partner, manager or someone who has a similar control function; “ threshold ”, in relation to a virtual asset issuance, means a prescribed amount in fiat currency or equivalent that can be raised by the public issuance of virtual assets within a given timeframe by the virtual asset issuer; “ transfer of virtual asset ” means any transaction carried out on behalf of an originator with a view to making the virtual asset available to a beneficiary; “ virtual asset ” means a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded or transferred and can be used for payment or investment purposes but does not include a digital representation of fiat currencies; “ virtual asset custodian ” means a licensee who provides virtual asset custody services in or from within the Islands; Section 3 Virtual Asset (Service Providers) Act (2024 Revision) “ virtual asset custody service ” means the business of safekeeping or administration of virtual assets or the instruments that enable the holder to exercise control over virtual assets; “ virtual asset service ” means the issuance of virtual assets or the business of providing one or more of the following services or operations for or on behalf of a natural or legal person or legal arrangement — (a) exchange between virtual assets and fiat currencies; (b) exchange between one or more other forms of convertible virtual assets;
transfer of virtual assets;
virtual asset custody service; or
participation in, and provision of, financial services related to a virtual asset issuance or the sale of a virtual asset; “ virtual asset service licence ” means a licence granted under section 8 ; “ virtual asset service provider ” has the meaning set out in section 3 ; and “ virtual service token ” means a digital representation of value which is not transferrable or exchangeable with a third party at any time and includes digital tokens whose sole function is to provide access to an application or service or to provide a service or function directly to its owner.
For the purposes of this Act , “ virtual asset trading platform ” means a centralised or decentralised digital platform —
which facilitates the exchange of virtual assets for fiat currency or other virtual assets on behalf of third parties for a fee, commission, spread or other benefit; and
which —
holds custody of or controls virtual assets on behalf of its clients to facilitate an exchange; or
purchases virtual assets from a seller when transactions or bids and offers are matched in order to sell them to a buyer, and includes its owner or operator, but does not include a platform that only provides a forum where sellers and buyers may post bids and offers and a forum where the parties trade in a separate platform or in a peer-to-peer manner.
For the purpose of the definition of “ virtual asset trading platform ”, where a single entity or group that controls the platform cannot be identified, the operator of the platform shall be deemed the owner of the entity under which the platform operates.

Cross References