Mississippi Cryptocurrency Laws

Relevant Statute

Title 75. Regulation of Trade, Commerce and Investments; Chapter 15. Mississippi Money Transmitters Act “Mississippi Money Transmitters Act”
75-15-1

“Money Transmitter” Definition

“Money transmission” means to engage in the business of the sale or issuance of checks or of receiving money or monetary value for transmission to a location within or outside the United States by any and all means, including but not limited to wire, facsimile or electronic transfer. 75-15-3

Additional Definitions

“Monetary value” means a medium of exchange, whether or not redeemable in money. 75-15-3

Exemptions

Nothing in this chapter shall apply to the sale or issuance or delivering of checks by: (a) Any financial institution whose deposits are insured by any agency of the United States government or any trust company authorized to do business in this state; (b) The government of the United States or any department or agent thereof; (c) The State of Mississippi or any municipal corporation, county or other political subdivision of this state; (d) Agents of a licensee, as provided for in Section 75-15-17, provided that this exemption shall apply only to the agent’s acts on behalf of the licensee and this exemption shall not exempt the agent from the provisions of this chapter where he conducts money transmissions for his own account; (e) Attorneys-at-law, as to checks issued in the regular course of the practice of law; (f) Persons not carrying on the trade or business of money transmission, this exemption is intended to include persons who conduct money transmissions only as an incidental act to another trade or business regularly carried on by them and persons who only occasionally and infrequently conduct money transmissions for another person; or (g) The Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry for mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders and mortgage loan originators. 75-15-7

Registration Fees

$800 Application Fee

Bond and Insurance Requirements

A surety bond issued by a bonding company or insurance company authorized to do business in this state, in the principal sum of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($ 25,000.00) or in an amount equal to outstanding money transmissions in Mississippi, whichever is greater, but in no event shall the bond be required to be in excess of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($ 500,000.00). However, the commissioner may increase the required amount of the bond upon the basis of the impaired financial condition of a licensee as evidenced by a reduction in net worth, financial losses or other relevant criteria. The bond shall be in form satisfactory to the commissioner and shall run to the state for the use and benefit of the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance and any claimants against the applicant or his agents to secure the faithful performance of the obligations of the applicant and his agents with respect to the receipt, handling, transmission and payment of money in connection with money transmissions in Mississippi. The aggregate liability of the surety in no event shall exceed the principal sum of the bond. The surety on the bond shall have the right to cancel the bond upon giving sixty (60) days’ notice in writing to the commissioner and thereafter shall be relieved of liability for any breach of condition occurring after the effective date of the cancellation. Any claimants against the applicant or his agents may themselves bring suit directly on the bond, or the Attorney General may bring suit thereon in behalf of those claimants, either in one (1) action or successive actions. 75-15-11

Bond Alternatives and Additional Insurance Requirements

In lieu of the corporate surety bond, the applicant may deposit with the State Treasurer bonds or other obligations of the United States or guaranteed by the United States or bonds or other obligations of this state or of any municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision or agency of this state, or certificates of deposit of national or state banks doing business in Mississippi, having an aggregate market value at least equal to that of the corporate surety bond otherwise required. Those bonds or obligations or certificates of deposit shall be deposited with the State Treasurer to secure the same obligations as would a corporate surety bond, but the depositor shall be entitled to receive all interest and dividends thereon and shall have the right to substitute other bonds or obligations or certificates of deposit for those deposited, with the approval of the commissioner, and shall be required so to do on order of the commissioner made for good cause shown. The State Treasurer shall provide for custody of the bonds or obligations or certificates of deposits by a qualified trust company or bank located in the State of Mississippi or by any Federal Reserve Bank. The compensation, if any, of the custodian for acting as such under this section shall be paid by the depositing licensee. 75-15-11

Capital Requirements

The applicant shall have a net worth of at least Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($ 25,000.00) plus Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($ 15,000.00) for each location in excess of one (1) at which the applicant proposes to conduct money transmissions in this state, computed according to generally accepted accounting principles, but in no event shall the net worth be required to be in excess of Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($ 250,000.00). 75-15-9 Whenever the bond or securities deposit required under Section 75-15-11 is less than Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($ 500,000.00), the licensee may not at any time have a total amount in outstanding money transmissions or checks in Mississippi, in excess of the bond or securities deposit required of him under Section 75-15-11, and the licensee shall, in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner under this chapter, submit a written report to the commissioner on the last business day of each month regarding his money transmissions outstanding in Mississippi, whether issued by himself or through agents, provided that this limitation shall be the principal sum of the bond or the market value of the securities deposit required of the licensee under Section 75-15-11, and the sum of this limitation shall not be increased by any bond or securities deposit increase required by the commissioner under Section 75-15-29 or by deposit of any revocation order, suspension bond or securities deposit under Section 75-15-27. 75-15-25

State Comments or Statements

The money transmission definition includes the concept of monetary value, which is defined as a “medium of exchange, whether or not redeemable in money”.