How much will the CNV of Argentina know about you if you use cryptocurrencies?

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By TP

Key facts: There are regulations in Argentina that require information from exchanges. According to some Argentine exchanges, «nothing changes» for clients. The regulation of bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency exchanges in Argentina allows the regulatory authority, which is the National Securities Commission (CNV), to access customer information and their transactions. This is in accordance with the guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Supervision Guide to regulate virtual asset service providers. Document that guides the regulation of the cryptoasset sector in countries that have already established regulations (like Argentina currently). The South American nation has been among the countries that adopted the FATF recommendations for some time. However, with the new regulation, a registry of cryptocurrency service providers, such as exchanges, wallets and payment gateways, was created. therefore, All those registered will be under the supervision of the CNV.

In general terms, this registry involves the registration of each of the companies in the bitcoin sector that lives in Argentina and allows users in that country to operate with cryptocurrencies. “It is a list in which we must sign up so that the CNV has knowledge of which companies operate in the country,” said Julián Colombo, leader of the Bitso exchange in Argentina. The registration of suppliers is reflected in the Money Laundering Law, modified by the Argentine Senate to introduce the FATF guidelines to regulate the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In four articles, the legislation opens the way for the CNV becomes the body in charge of supervising and controlling the operation of exchanges and related companies.

It goes beyond being a list

But the new regulation in Argentina goes beyond being just a list. Once the companies are registered, they are licensed. and, subsequently, to the maintenance of the registry.

Although the license is a credential that gives the service operator the endorsement to operate on Argentine soil under the supervision of the CNV, it is also true that the regulator requests information from clients involved in suspicious transactions, or with people from sanctioned countries. . Specifically in its article 39, the norm states that all natural and legal persons that provide these services to Argentine users «They must report on their activities» to the CNV. This, «for the purposes of its incorporation into the registry, in the terms and under the conditions and deadlines established» by that regulator. Now, although the FATF recommendations call for knowing users' personal information, in Argentina this was already being done. In 2014, which was when the Financial Information Unit (UIF) approved a resolution in which, among other things, The obligation to report operations with crypto assets was established.

Then, in 2017, the Argentine tax system was modified to include cryptocurrencies within the income tax. While, in 2019, the Federal Administration of Public Revenue established a reporting regime that requires exchanges to submit a monthly report on its operations and transactions. It should also be mentioned that the Money Laundering Law, which is where the figure of supplier registration is added, also establishes the obligation of these companies to report its operations to the regulatory bodywhich is the CNV.

«No problem»

Even though Argentine exchanges and, consequently, the country's government, will have private information of cryptocurrency users due to following the FATF guidelines, there are companies in that country that They call for calm and assure that “nothing happens.”

As BitcoinDynamic reported on Wednesday, March 27, Bitso Argentina and Lemon Argentina claimed that there would be no changes for users and that their operations would remain as they have been until now. In fact, Julián Colombo, from Bitso Argentina, emphasized that “the government is not asking us for information about users or for us to modify any service or product.” But it is a reality that is volatile to change, considering that the countdown has already begun so that all companies in the cryptocurrency sector register in the registry of the CNV of Argentina. Whatever the case, the regulatory body, the CNV, still needs to issue the guidelines that cryptocurrency companies in Argentina must follow in order to carry out the regulations. It will be from there that it will be determined if in fact nothing changes for users or, on the contrary, everything will be different.