Argentina to Regulate Cryptocurrency Exchanges With Executive Order

The government of Argentina is reportedly preparing to regulate cryptocurrency service providers with an executive order. The measure would be directed to keep Argentina out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list, putting crypto service lenders under the oversight of the local securities watchdog.

Argentina Reportedly Set to Regulate Cryptocurrency Service Providers by Executive Order

The government of Argentina is putting its sights on regulating cryptocurrency service providers by an executive order. According to reports from local media, President Javier Milei would be preparing to issue an emergency decree to create a framework that would regulate the operation of these, putting it under the oversight of the national securities watchdog (CNV).

Milei would be focused on keeping Argentina out of the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), where the country was included from 2010 to 2014 due to its lax money laundering policies. The upcoming visit of the FATF, programmed to assess the country’s money laundering countermeasure, would be fueling this measure.

Under the new decree, all cryptocurrency service providers would have to register with the national cryptocurrency watchdog and operate under a license that would be provided by the organization even if they are not based in Argentina. Also, these would have to provide information to the national intelligence unit to comply with anti-money laundering laws, forcing cryptocurrency services lenders to produce risk reports and report suspicious movements.

Implementing such measures could lead to consolidation in the crypto environment, given that large cryptocurrency providers in the country would be able to comply with these requirements from day one. Small exchanges and peer-to-peer (P2P) markets could be forced to withdraw due to their inability to comply.

The executive order is set to be issued before March 6, when the FATF is set to visit the country to evaluate the anti-money laundering measures Argentina has put in motion since its last visit.