Is the blue dollar legal in Argentina?

Last verified: 27 Oct 2026 · Status: Changing

Short answer. No. Buying or selling dollars through anyone who is not a BCRA authorised bank or exchange house is an offence under the Criminal Foreign Exchange Regime Law (Law 19.359, art. 1). It applies to both sides of the deal. Fines reach ten times the amount, with prison for repeat offences. Owning dollars is legal.

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

Key rules

Only authorised entities may deal. Every exchange operation in the official market must go through financial or exchange entities authorised by the BCRA (BCRA "Exterior y Cambios", point 1.1). Breaches fall under the Criminal Foreign Exchange Regime Law (point 1.5).
What the law punishes. Law 19.359, t.o. 1995 by Decree 480/1995, art. 1, punishes: (a) any exchange deal made without an authorised institution; (b) dealing in exchange without authorisation; and (f) any act or omission that breaches the exchange rules. Item (a) does not distinguish buyer from seller, so the customer of a "cueva" (unlicensed exchange shop) or street dealer is covered, and the dealer also falls under item (b).
Penalties (art. 2). First offence: a fine of up to 10 times the amount. First repeat: prison of 1 to 4 years or a fine of 3 to 10 times. Second repeat: prison of 1 to 8 years and the maximum fine. When managers act for a company, the company is fined too, jointly with them (art. 2 f)). The BCRA investigates (art. 5). The action lapses after 6 years (art. 19).
The law has not changed. Infoleg lists no amendment to the 1995 text; the latest linked norm, Com. A 8354/2025, only changes interest on instalment plans for fines.
What the April 2025 opening changed. Since 14 April 2025 resident individuals may buy dollars in the official market for savings without BCRA approval or a monthly cap (Com. A 8226, point 1). What remains: debit to your own account, cash limited to US$ 100 a month (point 3.8.1); evidence of consistent income or assets (point 3.8.4); no purchases of dollar settled securities for 90 days (point 3.8.5). Companies still need BCRA prior approval to buy currency as savings (point 3.10). The informal market stayed illegal throughout.
AML. Banks, exchange houses (Law 18.924) and brokers must identify clients and report suspicious operations to the UIF (Law 25.246, arts. 20 and 21). The FX rules repeat this duty (point 1.7).

What changes the answer

Who you deal with. A licensed bank or exchange house is legal (point 1.1). The same cash deal at an unlicensed shop is not (art. 1 a)).
Your status. A non resident tourist can buy back only US$ 100 cash after a prior sale (point 3.13.1.5), which pushes tourists to informal dealers. The law still applies to them.
Company or individual. A company that buys informally exposes its managers too (art. 2 f)).
Enforcement. We found no official statistics on prosecutions of small retail buyers (unconfirmed). Rare enforcement does not make the deal legal.

Worked examples

A resident wants US$ 500 on 23 Oct 2026. Official: BCRA retail average selling rate ARS 1,549.77 (series 4), /data/oficial/. Dólar MEP: ARS 1,563.90, figure (dólar MEP selling rate (dolarapi.com)), see /data/mep/. Blue: ARS 1,545 buy and 1,565 sell, from the site's /data/blue/ feed, not an official source. USD converts at MEP.

Step or item	Time	Cost ARS	Cost USD (at MEP)
A. Official market, debit to own account (point 3.8)	Same day	774,885	495.48
B. MEP, bond trade through a broker	Same day, no holding period for resident individuals (CNV RG 1062/2025, art. 2)	781,950	500.00
C. Blue, cash from an informal dealer	Same day	782,500	500.35
D. Selling US$ 500 cash at blue instead	Same day	receives 772,500	493.96
Legal exposure on C or D (art. 2 a))	6 years, interruptible (art. 19)	up to 10 × the amount	up to 5,000

Step by step.

Official: 500 × 1,549.77 = ARS 774,885. At MEP: 774,885 ÷ 1,563.90 = US$ 495.48.
MEP: 500 × 1,563.90 = ARS 781,950, before broker fees (unconfirmed). That is ARS 7,065 (0.91%) more than the official route.
Blue: 500 × 1,565 = ARS 782,500. That is ARS 7,615 (0.98%) more than official and ARS 550 (0.07%) more than MEP.
Blue round trip: buy at 1,565, sell at 1,545. The ARS 20 spread (1.29%) costs ARS 10,000 on US$ 500.
Maximum first offence fine: 10 × US$ 500 = US$ 5,000, about ARS 7,819,500 at MEP (unconfirmed).

Cost to do it: official is about 1% cheaper than blue and MEP about the same, both same day with a bank or broker account and no capital or waiting months. Blue saves nothing on 23 Oct 2026 figures and carries the fine risk.

Practical traps

The 2025 opening is not an amnesty. Art. 20 a) says Penal Code art. 2 (retroactive milder law) does not apply to fines under the law. Looser rules today do not cancel a fine for a past deal. We have not checked how courts apply it (unconfirmed).
No receipt, no paper trail. A licensed entity must issue an exchange ticket for each deal (point 1.4). Blue cash has no ticket. A bank asks for evidence of income or assets (point 3.8.4) and runs AML checks (Law 25.246, art. 21), so unexplained cash can block a deposit or trigger a report.
Counterfeit and theft. Informal dealers give no remedy for fake notes or robbery at the handover. No official source quantifies this (unconfirmed).

FAQ

Is it legal to hold dollars in cash or in an account? Yes. Residents may buy dollar notes to hold or deposit (point 3.8). The offence is the informal exchange, not owning the dollars.

Is MEP the same as blue? No. MEP is a bond trade through a CNV registered broker, so it is lawful within CNV and BCRA rules. See MEP and CCL dollars.

Can a tourist be fined for using a "cueva"? On the text of art. 1 a), yes. The law makes no exception for non residents.

Is selling dollars to a friend illegal? A private peso for dollar swap is an exchange deal without an authorised institution under art. 1 a). We found no official guidance that exempts it (unconfirmed).

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.