Regulation
A mandatory registry for Bitcoin platforms to start in Argentina
TOPSHOT – Argentina’s new president Javier Milei gestures to the crowd from a balcony at the Casa Rosada… [+] Presidential Palace on its inauguration day in Buenos Aires, December 10, 2023. Libertarian economist Javier Milei was sworn in as Argentina’s president on Sunday, after a resounding election victory fueled by fury over the country’s economic crisis. country. (Photo by Emiliano Lasalvia / AFP) (Photo by EMILIANO LASALVIA/AFP via Getty Images)
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With anarcho-capitalist and libertarian leader Javier Milei coming to power in Argentina in December 2023, many believed that his plans to rebuild the national economy and dollarize it would help Bitcoin.
BTC
and the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the country. But after a few months of government, more regulations are coming. At the end of March, the Comisión Nacional de Valores in Argentina announcement a new mandatory register of virtual asset service providers for those operating with crypto assets in the country.
Companies and individuals carrying out this activity will now be asked to comply with the registration approved on March 14 by the Argentine Senate as part of the changes made to the current regulatory framework to respond to the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. This new requirement will affect businesses dedicated to providing multiple services, such as buying, selling, sending, receiving, lending or exchanging cryptos. Every supplier must complete registration, and the regulations apply not only to locally based businesses but also to those that operate in the market but are based elsewhere.
CNV President Roberto E. Silva was very clear: “Those who are not registered will not be able to operate in the country.” After the announcement, the securities watchdog participated in a meeting with the country’s leading law firms and the Fintech Chamber on the implementation of the register, which was attended by some representatives of local companies.
This law is part of what the previous administration left to Milei and was passed before his arrival at Casa Rosada. “It is a very bad idea to have a ledger that allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin. Bitcoin is money, not security. It is as wrong as if exchange offices for dollars or euros or stores where gold is bought and sold had to register with the CNV It’s completely absurd,” Manuel Ferrari, Argentinian member of the NGO Directive and co-founder of the Money protocol, told me. On Chain.
“This benefits no one, except perhaps some state bureaucrats and an army of lawyers and useless people from the compliance industry,” Ferrari argued. For him, this measure does not correspond to the pro-Bitcoin position in which many people place Milei, but Ferari pointed out that even Milei or his party did not present the initiative to Congress.
“Milei is not particularly ‘pro-Bitcoin’. He respects the freedom of currencies and will not interfere if you want to use bitcoin. But he would do the same if you want to use a stone or copper,” KamiPay said , payment solution co. -founder Nicolas Bourbon explained in more detail. For Ferrari as for Bourbon, this is not a regulation that will affect users in the short term but aims to satisfy the requirements of international institutions.
According to Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, Top 20, Argentina is the 15th largest cryptocurrency market in the world. The future of the Argentine market remains to be discovered, but users can remain calm since this new regulation will not affect them immediately.