Arkansas Act 532 of 2021, profiled here as the Arkansas Uniform Money Services Act Virtual Currency Amendments, is an effective Arkansas state law that amended the state’s Uniform Money Services Act. The act began as SB 150 in the 93rd General Assembly’s 2021 Regular Session, with the official title “An Act to Amend the Uniform Money Services Act; and for Other Purposes.”
The law’s core virtual-currency changes appear in the statutory definitions, money-transmission framework, reports, records, security controls, and permissible-investment sections of Arkansas Code Title 23, Chapter 55. This profile covers Act 532 itself rather than later 2023 or 2025 amendments to the same chapter, although editors should read the act alongside the current Arkansas Securities Department compilation for current text.
Key provisions of the Arkansas virtual currency amendments
Virtual currency definition
Act 532 added a definition of “virtual currency” as a digital representation of value used as a medium of exchange, unit of account, or store of value, and not recognized as legal tender by the U.S. Treasury. The definition excludes software, protocols, and certain distributed-ledger verification uses when the virtual currency is not used as a medium of exchange.
Money transmission scope and exclusions
The act amended “money transmission” to include receiving money, virtual currency, or monetary value for transmission. It also added exclusions for limited merchant or rewards value, game-platform value, and certain ledger-authentication uses. The result is a perimeter update: the law does not create a standalone crypto charter, but it integrates virtual-currency transmission into Arkansas’s money services regime.
Application review, sanctions screening, and reporting
Act 532 also updated licensing review provisions. Applicants must provide information about responsible individuals and disciplinary, litigation, bankruptcy, and receivership history. Officers, directors, responsible individuals, and owner applicants may be subject to identity information and criminal-background checks, and the act bars specified covered persons from appearing on OFAC sanctions and Executive Order 13224-related lists. Quarterly reporting provisions were amended to include virtual currency sold in Arkansas and virtual currency currently outstanding.
Records, cybersecurity, and like-kind holdings
The recordkeeping provision was amended to require five-year records for compliance review, including records of virtual-currency obligations sold or paid. The act added written physical security and cybersecurity policy requirements for money transmitters and currency exchangers that are licensed or required to be licensed under the chapter. It also created a virtual-currency-specific permissible-investment rule: a licensee transmitting virtual currency must hold like-kind virtual currency of the same volume as the amount obligated to consumers, in lieu of ordinary permissible investments for that obligation.
Jurisdictional impact
Act 532 applies at the Arkansas state level and is administered through the Arkansas Securities Commissioner and the Arkansas Securities Department. The Department’s public money-services page states that a Money Transmitter License is required for persons engaging in money transmission activity in Arkansas and describes that activity as including receiving money, virtual currency, or monetary value for transmission. The current compiled Money Services Act, effective August 5, 2025, retains a virtual-currency definition and a like-kind virtual-currency holding rule while reflecting later amendments.
Status and timeline
- January 19, 2021: SB 150 was filed in the Arkansas Senate.
- March 3, 2021: The Senate passed the bill and transmitted it to the House.
- March 29, 2021: The House passed the bill and returned it to the Senate.
- April 1, 2021: Act 532 was approved.
- July 28, 2021: Effective date inferred for 2021 Arkansas acts without an emergency clause or specified effective date, subject to editor verification against Attorney General Opinion No. 2021-029.
This profile is a legal-reference summary for editorial and research use. It does not provide legal, tax, investment, trading, or compliance advice.