{ "jurisdiction_id": "US-HI", "jurisdiction": "United States – Hawaii", "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/", "generator": "render_jid v13.3.0", "date_modified": "2026-08-17", "schema_version": "crypto-v2.0.0", "counts": { "modules": 8, "sourced_findings": 19, "source_register": 16 }, "modules": [ { "code": "crypto_licensing", "name": "Crypto Licensing", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/#crypto-licensing-crypto-licensing", "standing_position": "Hawaii has no bespoke crypto-asset licensing statute. Crypto exchange, custody and transmission businesses fall under the state's general Money Transmitters Act (HRS Chapter 489D), administered by the Division of Financial Institutions (DFI) within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA). From 2017-2022 DFI imposed a 'double-reserve' condition on crypto-licensees (fiat reserves equal to customer crypto holdings) that drove several exchanges, including Coinbase, out of the state. A 2020-2022 'Digital Currency Innovation Lab' sandbox let selected firms operate without an MTL, waiving the double-reserve rule; the sandbox concluded June 30, 2022, after which firms could operate as unregulated businesses subject only to federal requirements. Coinbase resumed Hawaii service in August 2024 citing DCCA/DFI regulatory clarifications, but the precise current statutory basis (i.e., whether HRS 489D-8's reserve mandate was formally amended) was not independently verified against primary statute text in this pass.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "token_classification", "name": "Token Classification", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/#token-classification-token-classification", "standing_position": "Hawaii has no state-level statute characterizing tokens as securities, e-money, asset-referenced tokens, or utility tokens. Per the seed disambiguation, token characterization for securities/commodities purposes is governed by federal SEC/CFTC jurisdiction, currently in flux pending the federal CLARITY Act (passed House, advanced by Senate Banking Committee, not yet law as of mid-2026), which would grant the CFTC jurisdiction over digital-commodity spot markets while SEC retains jurisdiction over investment-contract assets.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "on_chain_activity_regime", "name": "On-Chain Activity Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/#on-chain-activity-regime-on-chain-activity-regime", "standing_position": "No Hawaii statute or DFI rule specifically addresses staking, DeFi lending, DEX operation, mining, node operation, validator activity, or tokenization. The general Money Transmitters Act may reach custodial or transmission-like activity conducted by intermediaries, but decentralized/non-custodial on-chain activity has no identified state-specific treatment.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "stablecoin_regime", "name": "Stablecoin Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/#stablecoin-regime-stablecoin-regime", "standing_position": "Hawaii has no state-specific stablecoin statute. The controlling framework is the federal GENIUS Act, signed into law July 18, 2025, which establishes issuance authorization, 1:1 high-quality-liquid-reserve backing, par redemption, and monthly disclosure requirements for 'permitted' payment stablecoin issuers, with state-qualified issuer pathways available if a state regime is certified 'substantially similar.' As of this research pass, GENIUS Act implementing regulations (OCC, FDIC, NCUA, Federal Reserve, Treasury) remain proposals; agencies missed the statute's July 18, 2026 one-year rulemaking deadline, and the law's operative provisions take effect on the earlier of 120 days after final rules or January 18, 2027. Hawaii has not published a state-qualified stablecoin certification framework in the sources reviewed.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "consumer_protection", "name": "Consumer Protection", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/#consumer-protection-consumer-protection", "standing_position": "Hawaii's consumer-protection posture toward crypto has been shaped primarily through money-transmitter licensing conditions rather than a dedicated crypto consumer-protection statute. DFI historically required licensees trading, transmitting, or custodying crypto to meet financial-statement requirements and treat crypto value as not a 'permissible investment.' Separate legislative proposals (e.g., a 2020 bill enabling bank custody of digital assets, and 2018 bills requiring consumer volatility warnings) were identified in secondary reporting, but their final enactment status was not confirmed against primary legislative records in this pass.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "tax_treatment", "name": "Tax Treatment", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/#tax-treatment-tax-treatment", "standing_position": "No Hawaii Department of Taxation (DOTAX)-specific statute, form, or published guidance addressing digital-asset taxation was located in this research pass. In the absence of a dedicated state pronouncement, the working assumption is that Hawaii's income tax base, which generally follows federal adjusted gross income, would incorporate the IRS's treatment of virtual currency as property (generating capital gain/loss or ordinary income on disposition), but this specific state-level conformity was not independently verified against a DOTAX primary source.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "cross_border_transfer", "name": "Cross-Border Transfer", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/#cross-border-transfer-cross-border-transfer", "standing_position": "Hawaii imposes no identified state-level outbound restriction on crypto-asset transfers. Cross-border movement of virtual currency by Hawaii-licensed or Hawaii-based money-transmission businesses is governed by federal frameworks: FinCEN's Bank Secrecy Act money-transmitter/MSB regime and OFAC sanctions screening, rather than any Hawaii-specific cross-border statute.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "aml_cft_regime", "name": "AML/CFT Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-hawaii/#aml-cft-regime-aml-cft-regime", "standing_position": "AML/CFT obligations for Hawaii-licensed money transmitters (including crypto businesses) derive from the federal Bank Secrecy Act framework administered by FinCEN (MSB registration, BSA program, CTR/SAR filing, recordkeeping) rather than a Hawaii-specific AML statute. Per the crypto consumer's subscription to the fleet's aml_ctf Financial Integrity Module (FIM), substantive AML/CFT claims are tracked there rather than in this crypto baseline; the entry below is disambiguation context only.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] } ] }