The Argentinian securities regulator, the National Securities Commission (CNV), recently opened an innovation hub with the goal of advancing discussions about cryptocurrency and fintech investments. This group will act as a conduit between private entities and the institution in order to bring new fintech and crypto-regulated instruments to market.
The National Securities Commission (CNV), the Argentinian securities regulator, is reportedly taking action to streamline the arrival of new fintech and crypto-based investment instruments to the market. The institution recently launched an innovation hub that will link private investors with regulators, to exchange information about the requirements these products must meet to be released to the market.
Andres Consentino, president of the CNV, was optimistic about the future of this initiative. He stated:
We are being proactive in the context of the emergence of crypto assets and fintech, to work together with the sector and generate a regulatory and policy framework in this regard.
One of the main concerns behind this new hub, and one of the motivations for its launch, is the number of cryptocurrency scams that have happened in the country since cryptocurrency adoption peaked. On this issue, Consentino stated:
This initiative also aims to improve the protection framework for the investor against the phenomena of quite unfortunate circumstances that usually occur.
This innovation hub might usher in a new era of regulated crypto-linked investment products in Argentina. This is the opinion of Andres Ponte, president of Matba Rofex, an investment brokerage company, who stated that these products will be launched in the short term.
There are two objectives behind the regulation of cryptocurrency investments in the country according to local sources. One is the protection of the investors that are seeking to put funds in crypto markets through the launch of regulated products. Another one is the benefit the national tax agency might enjoy from these products that, due to their nature, cannot be hidden from the AFIP, the national tax agency.
With the regulated instruments in place, the capacity for collecting taxes on these cryptocurrencies would be almost certain, different from what is occurring now, when most of the cryptocurrency movements and investments are made in exchanges and platforms outside the country.
In this line of thinking, a law project was presented in the Senate on April 1 seeking to tax all properties Argentinians have in foreign countries, including cryptocurrency, to pay a part of the debt the country has with the International Monetary Fund.
