On 4 May 2023, the Central Bank of Argentina (“BCRA”) published Communication “A” 7759 (the “Communication”) that establishes new restrictions for Payment Service Providers Offering Payment Accounts (“PSPCPs”).
The Communication stipulates that the PCPCPs “may not carry out or provide their clients with transactions in digital assets – including cryptoassets and those whose yields are determined on the basis of the variations they register – that are not authorised by a competent national authority or by the BCRA”. In this way, the BCRA prevents the PSPCPs from carrying out this type of transactions themselves and offers to initiate them from applications or web platforms.
The Communication issued by the BCRA equates the rules between PSPCPs and financial institutions, which have had this restriction of the same tenor since May 2022, issued through communication “A” 7506.
In the words of the BCRA, the measure “seeks to mitigate the risks that transactions with these assets could generate for users of financial services and the national payment system”.
