As anarcho-capitalist and libertarian leader Javier Miley takes power in Argentina in December 2023, many feel that his plans to rebuild and dollarize the national economy will aid the adoption of BitcoinBTC and cryptocurrencies in the country. But just months into his government more regulation is on the way. In late March, Argentina's National Commission of Ethics announced a new mandatory registry of virtual asset service providers for those operating with crypto assets in the country.
Companies and individuals undertaking this activity will now be required to comply with the registration approved by the Argentine Senate on March 14 as part of amendments to the existing regulatory framework to address the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. This new requirement will affect businesses dedicated to providing several services, such as buying, selling, sending, receiving, lending or trading cryptocurrencies. Each provider must complete registration, and the regulation is not only limited to local companies, but also includes companies operating in the market but based elsewhere.
The president of CNV, Roberto E. Silva, quite clear: “Those who are not registered will not be able to work in the country.” After the announcement, the Securities Supervision Authority participated in a meeting with the country's main legal firms and the Financial Technology Chamber on the implementation of the registry, with the participation of some representatives of local companies.
“It is a terrible idea to have a registry where Bitcoin can be bought and sold. Bitcoin is money, not a security. It is wrong for dollar or euro currency exchange houses or shops where gold is bought and sold to register with the CNV. It is pure Nonsense,” Manuel Ferrari, an Argentine NGO steering member and co-founder of the Money On Chain protocol, told me in an interview.
“This benefits no one, except perhaps some state bureaucrats and an army of lawyers and useless people from the compliance industry,” Ferrari said. To him, this measure does not fit the pro-bitcoin position in which many people have positioned Miley, but neither he nor his party has presented the initiative to Congress.
“Miley is not particularly pro-Bitcoin. He respects the freedom of currencies and will not interfere if you want to use Bitcoin. But he will do the same thing if you want to use rock or copper,” KamiPay payment solutions company founder Nicolas Bourbon further explained. For both Ferrari and Bourbon, this is not a regulation that will affect users in the short term but is intended to meet the requirements of international institutions.
According to Chainasis's Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index of Top 20 Countries, Argentina is the 15th largest cryptocurrency market in the world. What is next for the Argentine market is yet to be discovered, but users can remain calm as this new regulation will not affect them immediately.
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