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Virginia's money-transmitter framework has been comprehensively overhauled: former Chapter 19 of Title 6.2 is repealed effective July 1, 2026 and replaced by new Chapter 19.1, enacted via HB 1942 (2025 Acts of Assembly, c. 214), adopting the CSBS Money Transmission Modernization Act model law; the SCC has begun conforming 10VAC5-120 accordingly.
Outlook
With the overhaul now in force, licensing costs for new non-bank entrants are lower at the point of entry even as the bond formula scales with transmitted-funds volume, a combination that merits tracking for its effect on Virginia's non-bank licensee population over the coming reporting cycles.
Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access
Virginia's money-transmission framework underwent a complete legislative replacement this cycle. Chapter 19 of Title 6.2 of the Code of Virginia - the state's money-order-seller and money-transmitter statute - was repealed effective 1 July 2026 under Acts of Assembly 2025, Chapter 214 (HB 1942), and superseded by new Chapter 19.1. The new chapter adopts the CSBS Money Transmission Modernization Act model law and eliminates the standalone money-order-seller licence category that existed under the old statute. Virginia's adoption places it alongside more than thirty other states that have already adopted the MTMA in whole or in part, which should reduce multi-state licensing friction for transmitters that already hold licences across that cohort of states, even as the Commonwealth's own prudential requirements are simultaneously being recalibrated.
That recalibration is concrete and quantified. Chapter 19.1 replaces the prior flat $200,000 net-worth minimum with a tiered structure starting at $100,000, and introduces a surety-bond formula keyed to a transmitter's average daily money-transmission liability rather than a flat bond figure. This is a bank-versus-nonbank-relevant change specifically because it falls on non-bank money transmitters and payment institutions - the entities licensed under this chapter are, by definition, non-bank actors; banks conducting payment activity operate under a different prudential perimeter entirely, and Chapter 19.1's tiered bond and net-worth structure does not touch that separate bank-regulatory track.
The Virginia State Corporation Commission has begun the administrative work of implementing the new statute. On 4 May 2026, the Commission published proposed amendments to 10VAC5-120 conforming the regulation to Chapter 19.1: updating definitions, licence-application requirements, and the exemption scope under Section 6.2-1923, and delegating administrative powers to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions. These amendments were still pending finalization as of this cycle's observation date, meaning Chapter 19.1 is in force as a statute while its full regulatory implementation remains incomplete.
Scope changes accompany the prudential and administrative ones. Chapter 19.1 excludes virtual currency from the statutory definition of money, which means purely crypto-to-crypto activity falls outside Virginia's money-transmitter licensure requirement altogether. At the same time, the chapter expands the definition of money transmission to explicitly include payroll processing, bringing a category of commercial-payments activity within the licensing perimeter that had not previously been named in the statute. These two changes move in opposite directions on the same underlying question of what counts as money transmission in Virginia, and firms operating in either space have direct cause to re-examine their licensing position against the new statutory language.
For an operator evaluating entry into Virginia's money-transmission market for the first time, the new regime is, on balance, a lower-friction proposition than the one it replaced, precisely because MTMA harmonization means a licence built to the model-law template can be leveraged across the growing cohort of adopting states with less bespoke compliance work per state. That efficiency gain is offset, though not eliminated, by the tiered net-worth and bond requirements, which mean the specific capital and surety obligations a new entrant faces will depend on its projected average daily transmission liability rather than a single flat figure applicable to every licensee regardless of size. The virtual-currency exclusion also has an entry-pathway dimension worth stating plainly: a firm whose Virginia-facing activity is limited to crypto-to-crypto transactions does not need a Virginia money-transmitter licence to conduct that specific activity under Chapter 19.1's current definition, though any fiat-denominated leg of a broader payments business would still fall within the licensing perimeter as before.
None of the developments described here were sourced from a single outlet: the repeal and the SCC's conforming amendments both trace to Tier 1 primary sources - the Code of Virginia itself and the Virginia Register of Regulations - while the MTMA-adoption characterization, the tiered bond mechanics, and the virtual-currency scope change rest on Tier 4 secondary analysis that has not yet been corroborated against the enacted statutory text directly.
Outlook
The item to watch is finalization of the Commission's conforming amendments to 10VAC5-120, expected within roughly the next two quarters. Until those amendments finalize, the practical licensing experience for new applicants and the precise application of the tiered bond formula to existing licensees both remain incompletely specified at the regulatory level, even though Chapter 19.1 itself has been in force since 1 July 2026.
Sources and findings (6)
- T1https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title6.2/chapter19/section6.2-1901/
- T1https://www.scc.virginia.gov/regulated-industries/bureau-of-financial-institutions/
- T3https://fraxtional.co/feeds/blog/va-money-transmitter-license
- T3https://www.bondexchange.com/virginia-money-transmitter-bond-a-comprehensive-guide/
- T3https://fraxtional.co/feeds/blog/va-money-transmitter-license
- T3https://fraxtional.co/feeds/blog/va-money-transmitter-license