For the lawyer Juan Diana, the new regulatory framework could encourage the use of BTC and ETH.
The businessman Ignacio Varese stressed that Bitcoin has legal recognition in Uruguay.
The Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) is working on a regulation for companies that provide services with virtual assets, which has generated encouraging opinions in the sector.
This new regulation would be added to Law 20,345, approved in 2024, to regulate the sector. This was announced by Patricia Tudisco, mayor of financial regulation of the BCU, during the seventh edition of the Blockchain Summit Global, made in Montevideo.
The official explained that The new regulation aims to differentiate between two types of virtual assets: financial and non -financial. This distinction will determine what obligations should comply with the platforms that operate them.
Although the Central Bank did not make public the definitions of this distinction, Tudisco said that the stablecoins would enter as financial virtual assets, while Bitcoin (BTC) will be classified as non -financial.
In dialogue with cryptootics, Uruguayan lawyer Juan Diana, specialist in financial regulation, described as successful the new classification proposed by the Central Bank of Uruguay.
“This distinction is correct and complies with the mandate established by the Virtual Assets Law … It is important to understand that the BCU Organic Charter establishes different regulatory levels according to the type of financial institution, which range from prudential and macro aspects of the system as a whole to more specific definitions such as information to the consumer or the prevention of money laundering,” said the lawyer.
He also added that, in the case of virtual asset services suppliers (PSAV), the Law deposited the maximum regulatory load for those who offer virtual assets classified as ‘financial’ (FT), the latter in line with the recommendations of the International Financial Action Group (GAFI).
Therefore, Diana explained to this medium that In Uruguay there will be different levels or regulatory loads for PSAV as financial assets are involved or not.
“This could generate greater incentives for the marketing and use of Bitcoin, Ether or other virtual exchange assets’ as the regulatory entity is called, since professional intermediation in these virtual assets must fulfill aspects only in terms of prevention of the/FT,” he said.
However, Diana also warned that “This difference could generate certain types of regulatory arbitrations that eventually merit a review of the current law, with the aim of covering all PSAV under the same umbrella and regulatory load.”
According to the specialist, within virtual exchange assets are basically all cryptocurrencies that are not stablecoins.
He recalled that, in 2021, the BCU elaborated a report which includes a taxonomy that Classify virtual assets into several categories. Among them are “virtual assets values”, which grant economic rights such as property or participation in future benefits, and “virtual assets of utility”, which allow access to specific products or services, such as fan tokens.
The “stable virtual assets” are also included, designed to minimize volatility by supporting assets or algorithmic mechanisms that maintain their stable price. Finally, there are “virtual exchange assets”, which do not grant specific rights or access, but are used as a means of exchange or investment, including examples such as Bitcoin and Ether (ETH).
For his part, Ignacio Varese, co -founder of the Blockchain Summit Global and CEO of Blockbear, assured cryptootics that the regulation “represents a positive advance for the industry.” In his opinion, “providing legal certainty is key to generating confidence in the sector, in addition to helping to promote and attract investments.”
Varse He highlighted as a significant advance the explicit recognition of Bitcoin within the new framework. “Until now, there was no formal recognition of this type, so this step represents an important milestone for its regulatory treatment,” he said.
For the entrepreneur, “the differentiated approach between financial assets, such as Stablecoins, which are usually linked to the traditional financial system, and non -financial, such as Bitcoin, which does not have a direct relationship with assets of the traditional financial system, allows a more proportional regulation to the risk, avoiding imposing unnecessary obligations in activities of less exposure.”
In addition, it positively valued the opening of the regulator: “It is very positive that from the central bank itself it is recognized that this is only the beginning and that the frame is flexible and can evolve over time … I consider that this is a first positive step for Uruguay and that it feels the basis to gradually build a positive regulation to the crypto ecosystem.”
