Is crypto legal in Argentina, and how is it taxed?

Last verified: 27 Oct 2026 · Status: Changing

Short answer. Yes. Owning, trading and paying with crypto is legal. Argentina regulates the businesses that serve others: exchanges and custodians must register with the CNV before operating. Individuals pay 15% income tax on crypto gains. Whether the gain is Argentine or foreign source is unsettled. Crypto also counts for Bienes Personales, and gross income tax applies to habitual trading.

As of 26 Oct 2026. Rules in force at that date.

Key rules

Crypto itself is not banned or licensed. A "virtual asset" is a digital representation of value usable for payments or investments; fiat money never is (Law 25.246 art. 4 bis, added by Law 27.739 art. 4).
Providers must register with the CNV. Anyone who, as a business and for others, exchanges, transfers or holds crypto in custody, or serves token issuers, is a virtual asset service provider (PSAV, the Spanish term for VASP) (Law 25.246 art. 4 bis). The CNV keeps the register and supervises PSAVs (Law 27.739 arts. 37 to 39). The register opened under CNV RG 994/2024 art. 2 (BO 25 Mar 2024); the rules are now in CNV RG 1172/2026 art. 2.
Which exchanges. Argentine companies, and resident individuals above UVA 35,000 a month of activity for others, register before operating (CNV Rules Title XIV, Ch. III, art. 1, per RG 1172/2026). A foreign exchange must register, through an Argentine company or a registered branch, if it uses a ".ar" domain, has local on/off ramps, targets Argentine residents, advertises to them, or takes more than 20% of its volume from Argentina (art. 4). Unregistered providers must not operate (art. 3).
Not a PSAV: trading for your own account, and receiving or delivering crypto as payment for your own goods or services, whatever the amount (art. 2(i) and (ii)).
Income tax. Gains on selling "digital currencies" are taxable for individuals even if occasional (ITL art. 2(4)). A swap counts as a sale (art. 3). Argentine source gains pay 15% (art. 98(b)), less a special deduction (art. 100). Foreign source gains pay 15% (art. 94, third paragraph). Gains are Argentine source when the issuer is domiciled in Argentina (art. 7); the law is silent on bitcoin, which has no issuer, and on tokens issued abroad. Nothing in our sources settles it (unconfirmed). Cost is first in, first out (art. 67).
Bienes Personales. Residents pay on worldwide assets held on 31 December above the minimum: 0.50% to 0.75% for 2026 (Law 23.966 art. 25(d)). The law has no crypto rule, so location and valuation are unresolved (unconfirmed).
Bank tax. 0.6% on credits and debits (Decree 380/2001 Annex art. 7); savings accounts are exempt (art. 10(u)). PSAV client accounts are exempt if registered with ARCA (Decree 475/2026 art. 5).
Gross income tax (IIBB). Provincial, on habitual activity. Buenos Aires City taxes habitual crypto trading on the buy and sell spread (CABA Código Fiscal arts. 209 and 232(7)). Buenos Aires Province requires habitual activity (Código Fiscal arts. 182 and 183) and taxes mining where the hardware is located (art. 184 sexies).

What changes the answer

Source of the gain. See steps 2 and 3 (ITL arts. 7, 94, 98, 100).
Doing it for others. Above UVA 35,000 a month as a business for third parties, an individual must register as a PSAV and prove the volume with an accountant's certificate (CNV RG 1172/2026 arts. 1 and 7(a)(10)).
Habitual trading. It can trigger IIBB on the spread in Buenos Aires City (CF art. 232(7)); the City's rate for this activity is not in our sources (unconfirmed).
Simplified income tax return. Law 27.799 created an optional simplified return for resident individuals; see Fiscal innocence.

Worked examples

A resident bought 0.5 BTC on a registered exchange in February 2025 for ARS 50,000,000 with fees and sold it on 23 Oct 2026 for ARS 80,000,000 net (hypothetical prices). Pesos at the dólar MEP of ARS 1,563.90 per US$ on 23 Oct 2026 (dólar MEP selling rate (dolarapi.com)) (live rate).

Item	Time	Cost ARS	Cost USD
Cost of 0.5 BTC	Feb 2025	50,000,000	31,971.35
Net sale proceeds	23 Oct 2026	80,000,000	51,154.17
Gain		30,000,000	19,182.81
Tax, reading A (Argentine source)	annual return, mid 2027 (unconfirmed)	3,597,049.30	2,300.05
Tax, reading B (foreign source)	same	4,500,000.00	2,877.42
Bank tax on proceeds	on credit	0 (savings account) or 480,000 (current account)	0 or 306.92

Step by step.

Gain: 80,000,000 − 50,000,000 = ARS 30,000,000 (ITL art. 67, single lot).
Reading A, Argentine source: subtract the special deduction, equal to the art. 30(a) amount, ARS 6,019,671.36 for 2026 per ARCA's table (ITL art. 100) (unconfirmed). Taxable: ARS 23,980,328.64 (US$15,333.67). Tax at 15%: ARS 3,597,049.30 (US$2,300.05).
Reading B, foreign source: no art. 100 deduction, which covers only Argentine source gains. Tax at 15% of ARS 30,000,000: ARS 4,500,000 (US$2,877.42).
A third argument: ITL art. 98, rule (i), excludes exchange differences on foreign currency values. If BTC counted as one, only the dollar gain would be taxed. Untested (unconfirmed).
File form F.711 on ARCA's "Ganancias Personas Humanas, Portal Integrado" (ARCA).

Cost to do it: tax of ARS 3.6 million to 4.5 million (US$2,300 to US$2,877) depending on the source reading, plus exchange fees; no capital; about 8 months until the 2026 return is due (unconfirmed).

Practical traps

Swaps are taxable. Crypto to crypto exchanges are sales (ITL art. 3). So is paying with crypto.
Your bank will not sell you crypto. Banks may not carry out or facilitate crypto operations for clients unless the asset is authorised by a national regulator or the BCRA (BCRA Com. "A" 7506).
ARCA sees your account. Platforms report users with monthly flows or balances of ARS 50,000,000 or more (individuals) to ARCA (RG 4614 art. 3, as replaced by ARCA RG 5804/2025 art. 1) (unconfirmed).

FAQ

Can my business accept bitcoin as payment? Yes, without becoming a PSAV (CNV RG 1172/2026 art. 2(ii)). The sale is taxed as usual; selling the crypto later is a separate disposal.

Is crypto legal tender? No. The law separates virtual assets from legal tender (Law 25.246 art. 4 bis). Whether a contract can require payment only in crypto under Civil Code art. 765, as replaced by Decree 70/2023, is untested (unconfirmed).

Can I deduct crypto losses? Only against future gains of the same source and class. A loss on digital currencies is specific and cannot reduce salary or business income (ITL art. 25, as amended by Law 27.743 art. 68).

Published 27 Oct 2026 from our research draft. Points marked (unconfirmed) have not yet been checked against the official text; rely on the primary sources linked below.