Cameroon: United States intensify fight against terrorist financing through crypto-assets

From August 11 to 12, 2026, the US Embassy in Yaoundé brought together experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the AFRICOM Counter Drug Element – the antidrug unit of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) – and Counter Threat Finance, alongside officials from the Cameroonian Ministry of Defense. Washington claims to want to strengthen joint efforts to combat financial crime, transnational criminal networks, and violent extremist organizations in the digital age.

The embassy justifies this initiative by the rapid evolution of threats: “As cryptocurrencies and digital finance evolve, so do the tactics of those seeking to profit from them.”

The financial stakes are significant. In its first National Risk Assessment (ENR) on money laundering and terrorist financing, published in August 2023, the Cameroonian Ministry of Finance estimated that 160 billion CFA francs – equivalent to approximately 285 million USD at the average exchange rate – were illicit flows related to the use of crypto-assets by terrorist groups in 2018.

Without clear regulatory framework, these platforms attract a large clientele with the promise of quick gains – leading to savings losses for individuals. The Cameroonian study aimed to identify networks, platforms, and operators of crypto-assets and Ponzi schemes active in the country, and to measure their impact on currency transfers.

Regionally, the position remains cautious. To date, only two countries in the world – El Salvador, since September 2021, and the Central African Republic, since April 2022 – have given legal tender to bitcoin. The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) strongly opposes this adoption, citing risks of money laundering, capital flight, and monetary instability. In 2022, the then governor, Chadian Abbas Mahamat Tolli, formally contested the Central African law, arguing that it “has a negative effect on the legal unity of the Union.”

Faced with the rise of private digital assets, the BEAC favors the creation of a central bank digital currency (MNBC). From February 23 to 27, 2026, it organized a seminar in Yaoundé with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), bringing together the Banking Commission of Central Africa (COBAC), the Financial Market Supervisory Commission of Central Africa (COSUMAF), and the Action Group against Money Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC) to lay the foundations for a harmonized regulation of crypto-assets in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). In May 2026, in Dakar, Governor Yvon Sana Bangui reaffirmed this direction, advocating for a digital CFA franc, adapted to the existing cooperation framework, rather than opening up to dollar-backed stablecoins.

This caution reflects concerns about cryptocurrencies eroding common foreign exchange reserves and weakening regional monetary sovereignty. A CEMAC regulation that came into effect on August 1, 2022 already recognizes “digital assets” without granting them monetary status – a compromise that leaves the door open to stricter supervision, without official recognition.

American technical and security support is therefore added to a regulatory project already underway by regional institutions. For the Cameroonian government, as well as for its CEMAC partners, the goal is to regulate digital innovation without compromising the monetary sovereignty of the sub-region.