Key takeaways:
- The Financial Information Unit (FIU) of Argentina has registered Bybit, a crypto exchange, as a card operator and virtual asset service provider (VASP).
- Argentina’s economic volatility has led to a sharp increase in the use of crypto in that South American nation.
The Financial Information Unit (FIU) of Argentina has registered Bybit, a crypto exchange, as a card operator and virtual asset service provider (VASP).
In an effort to better align Argentina with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing regulations, legislation introducing VASP registration was submitted in March.
In order to stop money laundering and terrorist financing, the FIU, which registered Bybit, is in charge of evaluating, processing, and disseminating financial intelligence data.
In June 2022, Bybit, a crypto exchange based in Dubai and the second-largest by volume, started accepting withdrawals from Argentine users in order to process payments using fiat money.
Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, stated in a statement announcing the company’s registration in Argentina that Bybit takes compliance seriously and:
“This achievement marks a significant step forward in our mission to provide accessible and secure digital asset services to users worldwide and our commitment against financial crime.”
At the beginning of the month, Bybit stopped operating in France. It had been listed as an unregistered operator on the French financial regulator’s “blacklist” since 2022, but it had pledged to remove itself from the list as soon as it corrected its registration. In May 2023, Bybit left Canada following the implementation of new rules.
Argentina’s economic volatility has led to a sharp increase in the use of crypto in that South American nation. Argentina placed 15th in the world in 2023 for crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis.
The FATF has been pressuring Argentina to control its crypto industry. In July, laws granting tax amnesty up to $100,000, including on registered crypto assets, were passed.
The General Inspectorate of Justice also gave its approval for the use of crypto in registered capital in July. The crypto in question was mostly symbolic; 195 USD and 0.00457621 Bitcoin were transferred from a partner to the unidentified business in order to increase its capital.