Argentina Crypto License in 2026: PSAV Registration Requirements, Capital, and Who Must Register

Argentina regulates crypto businesses through a mandatory registry run by the securities regulator, the Comisión Nacional de Valores (CNV). Any company that exchanges, transfers or holds virtual assets for Argentine residents must be entered in the Registro de Proveedores de Servicios de Activos Virtuales (PSAV) before it takes a single order. Operating without an entry is prohibited, and the CNV can have an unregistered platform's domain blocked by court order.

The regime that applies today came into force on May 26, 2025 under CNV General Resolution 1058/2025. It replaced a light-touch registry from 2024 with capital requirements in US dollars, a mandatory local entity, named compliance officers, an annual IT audit and monthly reporting. Roughly half of the firms that had registered under the earlier rules did not make the transition. This guide sets out who is caught, what the five registration categories cost in capital, what a foreign exchange has to set up in Argentina, and for which businesses the country is the wrong choice.

Is There a Crypto License in Argentina?

Argentina issues no license document. What exists is a registration number in the PSAV registry, which the firm must display on its website, app and social media accounts in the form "Inscripto bajo el N°… en el Registro de PSAV de la CNV (República Argentina)". The registry was created by Law 27,739 of March 2024, which amended Argentina's anti-money laundering law to bring virtual asset service providers within the FATF standard, and by CNV Resolution 994/2024. Resolution 1058/2025 added the substantive requirements.

The CNV supervises the provider, and only the provider. Virtual assets themselves fall outside its remit unless a token qualifies as a security under Argentina's Capital Markets Law 26,831, in which case a public offering needs separate CNV authorization. Anti-money laundering obligations sit with the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), and a PSAV has to register with the UIF as an obligated entity in parallel.

Who Must Register as a PSAV in Argentina

Registration is triggered by activity, and the activity list mirrors the FATF definition of a virtual asset service provider: exchange between virtual assets and fiat currency, exchange between virtual assets, transfer of virtual assets, custody or administration of virtual assets, and services connected to an issuer's offering or sale of a virtual asset.

Three groups are inside the perimeter. Argentine-incorporated companies performing any of these activities must register before they start. Individuals resident in Argentina must register as well, with one exemption: aggregate monthly volume below 35,000 UVA (the inflation-indexed unit, valued at the last day of each month) stays outside the regime. Individuals are limited to the two exchange categories and cannot register for transfer, custody or issuer services.

The third group is foreign companies, and this is where most international operators find they are caught. A company incorporated outside Argentina must register when it carries out PSAV activity through any of five contact points:

• it uses a ".ar" domain for the activity;
• it has commercial agreements with third parties, subsidiaries or affiliates that let it receive funds locally from Argentine residents, including on-ramp and off-ramp arrangements;
• its offering is clearly directed at Argentine residents;
• it advertises to Argentine residents. Reverse solicitation, where the client initiates contact, does not count;
• its Argentine business exceeds 20% of its total volume in the registrable activities.

A foreign group that holds a stake in a locally registered PSAV, and has no direct contractual relationship with Argentine clients, does not itself need to register.

Four categories are outside the definition altogether: people or companies trading for their own account, whatever the volume; merchants that accept or pay in virtual assets for their goods and services; decentralized protocols with no identifiable service provider; and pure self-custody wallet providers.

PSAV Categories and Capital Requirements

An applicant registers under one or more of five categories. Each carries a minimum net worth, fixed in US dollars and converted at the Central Bank's Communication "A" 3500 rate. The net worth must be in place at application and maintained for as long as the registration lasts.

The reduced tier applies to categories 1 to 4 when the firm's transacted volume (or custodied volume, for category 4) over the previous twelve months is below USD 2,500,000. A firm registered under several categories meets the requirement of the most demanding one, so an exchange that also offers custody needs USD 150,000, or USD 75,000 while it stays below the volume threshold.

Client assets never count toward this figure. Custodied virtual assets and client fiat are booked off balance sheet as memorandum accounts, segregated from the firm's own holdings, and a PSAV is prohibited from using them for its own purposes. If year-end financial statements show net worth below the minimum, the firm has ten business days to file a recapitalization plan with the CNV as a material event.

Beyond capital, a registered PSAV pays an annual supervision fee to the CNV. Under the 2024 ministerial resolution that set it, the fee is ARS 10,000,000 for legal entities and ARS 4,000,000 for individuals; the peso amount is subject to periodic adjustment, so confirm the current figure with the CNV before budgeting.

Argentina Crypto License Requirements for Foreign Companies

A foreign exchange cannot register from abroad. Resolution 1058 gives a non-Argentine company two structures, both under the Companies Law 19,550. The first is a branch or permanent representation registered under Article 118, which keeps the foreign entity as the licensee but requires a local legal representative, a registered address in Argentina and a corporate object that expressly or implicitly covers the PSAV activities. The second is a local company, an SA or SRL, set up by the foreign shareholder under Article 123, with the local entity holding the registration.

In practice, most operators choose the local subsidiary. The Article 118 branch exposes the parent's balance sheet to the Argentine capital and reporting requirements and puts the parent's directors through the same criminal-record and AML declarations as local directors. A subsidiary ring-fences the obligation and lets the group meet the USD 150,000 net worth test at entity level.

Either way, the Argentine entity needs a website on a ".ar" domain, an Argentine phone number, a registered address available to clients, a Regulatory Compliance and Internal Control Officer and a Public Relations Officer for client complaints. Directors, syndics, local representatives and the compliance officer are each screened against a list of incompatibilities: convictions for property, fraud or public-faith crimes within the last ten years, any money laundering or terrorism financing conviction, UN sanctions listings and undischarged bankruptcy within the last five years.

Two categories of applicant are barred outright. Companies domiciled or incorporated in a jurisdiction on Argentina's non-cooperative list for tax transparency and on the FATF high-risk "call to action" list cannot register at all. And entities already licensed by the CNV as markets, clearing houses or capital-markets agents cannot operate as PSAV, although a PSAV may plug its platform into their infrastructure and refer clients to them under a reported agreement.

What the Registration File Contains

Applications go through the government's Trámites a Distancia (TAD) platform, with supporting documents uploaded to the CNV's Autopista de Información Financiera (AIF). For a legal entity the file includes:

• registered bylaws and shareholder register, with no shareholder falling under the incompatibility rules;
• audited annual financial statements evidencing the minimum net worth, or an independent accountant's certification if the statements are more than eight months old, with net worth measured no more than two months before filing;
• criminal-record certificates and AML sworn statements for every director, syndic, local representative and general manager;
• a board resolution declaring that the company has an adequate administrative organization for the activity;
• an IT expert's report on system integrity, security, backup and contingency procedures;
• for custody applicants, a description of the wallet architecture: own or third-party custody, networks used, wallet types (cold, warm, hot), and the private-key scheme (multi-sig, MPC or other);
• details of every agreement with third parties, in Argentina or abroad, to which functions are delegated.

The CNV publishes no statutory review period, and the FAQ it maintains for applicants does not commit to one. Firms that arrive with corporate documents, audited accounts and written AML, cybersecurity and custody policies already in place move faster; the documentation, and in particular the IT expert's report and the custody description, is where applications stall.

Ongoing Obligations After Registration

Registration is a continuing status, and the CNV reviews compliance against the full rule set for as long as the entry stands. The recurring obligations are:

• Monthly reporting through the AIF within fifteen days of month-end: client numbers split by individuals and legal entities, total monthly volume in US dollars, the ten most traded or custodied assets, and custodied balances per asset.
• Annual systems audit signed by an IT expert, local or foreign, filed within seventy days of year-end. The board must transcribe the audit conclusions and its own remediation decisions into the minute book.
• Annual compliance report from the Regulatory Compliance Officer, on the same seventy-day deadline, plus audited annual financial statements within five days of filing with the companies registry.
• Custody rules for category 4: segregation of client assets, at least one hardening measure such as cold storage, geographically split key shards, multi-signature authorization or outbound whitelists, and a public proof of reserves on the firm's website or app.
• Client fiat held in an Argentine bank authorized by the Central Bank, a foreign bank meeting Basel III standards, or a Central Bank-registered payment service provider, always segregated from the firm's own funds.
• Conduct and disclosure: a published code of conduct, a transparent fee schedule, a mandated list of risk warnings, a white paper for every asset listed, a separately flagged section for tokens launched less than ninety days ago, and a ban on any tool that obscures the origin or destination of a transaction.
• Record keeping for ten years covering accounting records, client identity files and communications.

Any third-party agreement, whether a referral arrangement or a delegation of custody, execution or compliance functions, has to be reported to the CNV within five days of signature, and delegation never shifts liability away from the registered PSAV. A foreign counterparty that performs PSAV functions must itself be regulated in a jurisdiction that meets FATF standards and is off Argentina's non-cooperative list.

What Happens If You Operate Without Registration

An unregistered firm carrying out PSAV activity in Argentina, or a foreign firm that meets one of the five contact tests without registering, is in breach of Article 2 of the regime. The CNV can ask the specialized prosecutor or the courts to block the website URL and social media handles immediately, and sanctions follow the Capital Markets Law regime that applies to registered agents, with fines and disqualification of the individuals involved. Using a name, advertising or any communication that suggests PSAV status without being registered is a separate breach.

Registered firms are exposed on the other side. The CNV cancels a registration on its own initiative when the firm stops meeting the requirements, and it must cancel on request of the UIF when the firm fails the UIF's reporting regime, including the identification of beneficial owners. That second route is the one that removed a large share of the 2024-era registrants.

Who Should Not Choose Argentina

Argentina is a market-access registration, and it only makes sense for a business that intends to serve Argentine residents at scale. Three profiles should look elsewhere.

An operator without Argentine clients gains nothing from the entry. Unlike the licensing regimes that offshore-focused firms use to satisfy banks and payment partners, a PSAV number carries no passporting and little recognition outside the country, while it imports the full local obligation set, including a ".ar" domain, Argentine officers, monthly reporting in Spanish and ten years of records.

A group that wants to keep its structure offshore cannot use Argentina at all. There is no cross-border registration; the registered party is either an Argentine branch of the foreign company or an Argentine subsidiary, and the shareholder's own jurisdiction is checked against the tax-transparency and FATF lists.

A platform whose Argentine users arrive through reverse solicitation, with no local advertising, no ".ar" domain, no local on-ramp and Argentine volume under 20%, sits outside the perimeter today and should think carefully before triggering it. Adding a peso on-ramp through a local payment partner is the contact point that most often converts an unregulated position into a mandatory registration.

For firms whose goal is a Latin American regulatory base rather than the Argentine market specifically, El Salvador's Digital Asset Service Provider registration remains the regional alternative with a defined capital requirement and no local-client threshold. Which route fits depends on where the clients are, how the group is structured and which banks and payment providers the business needs to satisfy. Our team maps that decision across every crypto jurisdiction we work in: compare crypto licensing options.

FAQ

How long does PSAV registration in Argentina take?

The CNV sets no statutory deadline for deciding an application. Timing is driven by the completeness of the file: a company with audited financial statements, a registered local entity, criminal-record certificates for all officers and written IT, custody and AML policies can file within weeks of incorporation, while the IT expert's report and the custody architecture description are the items that most often send an application back for additions.

Can a foreign crypto exchange serve Argentine users without registering?

Yes, within limits. A foreign exchange that runs no ".ar" domain, does not advertise to Argentine residents, has no local partner receiving Argentine funds, does not clearly direct its offer at Argentina and keeps Argentine business under 20% of total volume is outside the regime, and clients who approach it on their own initiative do not create an obligation. Cross any one of those lines and registration through a local branch or subsidiary becomes mandatory.

Does a self-custody wallet need a PSAV registration?

A provider offering exclusively self-custody wallets is excluded from the PSAV definition, as are decentralized protocols without an identifiable operator and merchants that accept crypto as payment. A wallet that adds a swap, an on-ramp or hosted custody becomes a PSAV in categories 1, 2 or 4 and must register before offering the feature.

Can an Argentine PSAV list any token?

Only tokens with a white paper or equivalent disclosure available on the platform in Spanish or English. Tokens that qualify as securities under Argentine law cannot be offered without CNV public-offering authorization, and tokens launched less than ninety days earlier must sit in a separately flagged section with an enhanced risk warning.