Bitcoin Argentina NGO proposes defining cryptocurrencies as digital value
In response to this year’s regulatory changes in the country, the NGO Bitcoin Argentina, which brings together the main representatives of the sector in the country, is promoting a draft that proposes a legal framework for the use and transactions of cryptocurrencies.
The proposal came to light after users and companies in the industry expressed the need for more defined regulation. The decision of the government of President Javier Milei, of implementing new regulations and controls in the sector, caused criticism and unrest.
The Bitcoin Argentina NGO initiative now aims to create a ““safe environment” and “transparent” for cryptocurrency users and companies in the industry, which includes some of the questions raised by the authorities.
“All persons have the right to develop, acquire, possess, hold, operate and transfer, without restrictions, bitcoin and other decentralized cryptoassets and to develop and operate decentralized service platforms. The law protects ownership and rights over cryptoassets,” states the text in its Article 1.
With this objective, what is sought is to delimit the currencies that are likely to enter the category of digital valueand differentiate them from those that fall under the regulation of the traditional financial assets.
On the one hand, the proposal considers the “decentralized cryptoassets”, such as bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH), “for all legal purposes as non-legal tender currency”. Together with article 1 of the draft, this classification strengthens the protection of self-employed users of this type of assets that they may or may not use. exchanges centralized.
On the other hand, it is established that the “centrally issued cryptoassets”, like the stablecoins tied to the dollar (USDC either USDT), will be subject to specific regulations and obligations.
Specifically, centrally issued assets imply “rights against issuers who have assumed obligations publicly, made promises or generated legitimate expectations for their subscribers or purchasers and also against those designated by law as responsible.”
In addition to the type of token, the initiative proposes to distinguish the government mechanisms of each digital asset. This aspect is relevant because it affects the management of cryptocurrencies, public confidence and what purpose can be given to the coins.
“The key point is to determine whether we should consider them similar to a traditional financial asset and, if not, what treatment they should receive. It would be necessary to draw up a base law that contemplates more precise and concrete definitions,” he said. Rosendo Gravanagolegal advisor on Computer Law, Cryptoassets and Blockchain, to iProUP.
In this proposed framework, cryptocurrencies or tokens centralized will be considered as negotiable valueswhen they are offered as investment instruments and “are issued to represent financial obligations payable against their issuer or participations of any kind in its capital or business.”
For these digital assets, the special regime under which they will operate must not “obstruct the global and pseudonymous supply and circulation of cryptoassets”, or “the disintermediation and immediacy of the link between the issuer and the investor, and between investors”.
It also aims to provide facilities in operations. At this point, it is necessary to “allow self-custody by investors and by providers of cryptoasset services under regimes that allow verification of reserves, in which case the law protects their financial isolation from the obligations of the custodian.”
The latest revision of the NGO’s draft also establishes a licensing system for centralised assets, the enforcement authority of which will be designated by the Executive Branch.
The regulatory framework seeks to emulate some of the criteria that already operate in other countries, as CriptoNoticias reported about the United States. There is active intervention at the judicial level that specified, in some cases, which assets are subject to the law that regulates stock market securities.
“Regarding the degree of decentralization, the interpretative criteria are left to the courts. The trend is clear due to the long wait for resolutions from the US SEC,” said Gravagno.
The proposal also sets out issues that have some progress in current regulations. It defines the regulatory body for cryptoassets as the National Securities Commission (CNV) and establishes by law the existence of the Register of service providers based on them (PSAV).
As reported by CriptoNoticias, the PSAV was launched in March, as a start to the implementation of the law approved this year in Congress and which adapts local regulations to the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
This latest regulatory change, which aims to monitor the exchanges and preventing money laundering and terrorist financing of cryptocurrency operations, had some objections from the Bitcoin community. Criticism pointed to an impact on “innovation in the sector” and “the privacy of individuals,” among other bureaucratic obstacles.
Despite this, the PSAV registry remains in force with 45 companies authorized to operate, and for the moment it has not generated any tangible obstacles in the industry.
With the draft of the NGO Bitcoin Argentina, the property rights of users to own and trade cryptocurrencies in a decentralized manner would be guaranteed for the first time. From a legal point of view, it will not be equivalent to “cash” or other types of property holdings, but will have its own classification.
In contrast, the regulations clarify the obligations and regulations that would fall on virtual wallets and companies that provide services in the industry. Above all, with regard to the purchase of what is known as “digital dollar”, which operate in centralized networks and are offered as investment instruments from the exchanges.
In this second type, these assets would be covered by local capital market regulations, like any other traditional financial instrument.
