Buenos Aires Embraces Cryptocurrency for Tax Payments
Buenos Aires has recently unveiled “BA Cripto,” an innovative policy initiative that empowers residents and businesses to pay city taxes and administrative fees using cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. Launched on August 19, 2025, this forward-thinking program encompasses various municipal taxes such as ABL (property tax), Patentes (vehicle tax), and Ingresos Brutos (turnover tax), along with non-tax services like driver’s licenses and traffic fines. All payments can be made effortlessly through a city QR code system.
Buenos Aires Leads with Cryptocurrency Integration
The city’s initiative extends beyond merely enabling crypto payments. A comprehensive set of measures has been introduced to streamline operations: incorporating crypto-related activities into the city’s economic nomenclature for simplified filings; exempting virtual-asset service providers (PSAVs) from selected bank-collection regimes under turnover tax; transitioning the taxable base for crypto trading from gross transaction value to net spread; and facilitating QR crypto payments for both taxes and administrative services. The government describes this package as a regulatory refinement that minimizes friction while ensuring tax alignment with the realities of digital-asset markets.
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Mayor Jorge Macri’s Vision for a Crypto-Friendly City
Mayor Jorge Macri emphasized the initiative as a step towards institutional modernization, aimed at attracting investment and simplifying compliance. “Our ambition is for Buenos Aires to become a global leader in the crypto sector,” he stated. “With our existing human capital, we are now creating the necessary tools by cutting bureaucracy, easing taxpayer compliance, and encouraging new companies to establish themselves here.” His remarks were made at The Slow Kale in Colegiales, a venue known for accepting crypto payments.
Macri further highlighted the project’s intention to present a more welcoming stance to the crypto industry: “These measures show the crypto world that Buenos Aires is increasingly accommodating. The digital economy demands that we evolve into a modern, agile, and efficient state. We want talent to thrive, innovate, and lead without barriers.”
Expanding Crypto Usage and Infrastructure
The backdrop to this initiative is an increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies. According to city data, approximately 10,000 individuals in Buenos Aires receive income from abroad via crypto or PayPal, with the use of PIX rails also on the rise. Nationally, Argentina boasts over 10 million crypto accounts, representing about 22% of Latin America’s total. These figures underscore the necessity for tailored regulations and public-service infrastructures that inherently support digital assets.
Benefits for Businesses and Consumers
For businesses, the updated classification is significant because it provides crypto activities with a clear categorization in the tax nomenclature, enhancing clarity without fiscal burdens and facilitating cross-jurisdictional data matching. The exclusion of PSAVs from bank-collection regimes aims to prevent automatic withholdings that could restrict working capital, while the shift to a spread-based tax base acknowledges the discrepancy between high-volume, low-margin trading and a gross-receipts model. Collectively, these measures create what the city describes as a more “agile” and “transparent” environment for digital asset enterprises in the capital.
For consumers, the payment process is designed to be user-friendly: simply scan a city QR code and pay the chosen tax or fee with a compatible wallet. While only some wallets currently support crypto payments, a Buenos Aires–developed “aggregator” is in the pipeline to enable seamless transactions from any wallet, making the process faster and more straightforward. The government has yet to release a technical specification or an approved asset list at the program’s inception.
Legal and Tax Reforms for Digital Assets
Hernán Lombardi, the city’s Economic Development Minister, described the reforms as a recalibration of the legal and tax treatment for digital assets. “These changes signify a shift in the legal and tax landscape for digital assets. Reduced bureaucracy, enhanced legal certainty, and clear regulations will translate into increased investment,” he explained, noting that the updated nomenclature will assist in “defining and clarifying the activities of companies and individual crypto-asset users, thus avoiding withholdings that could impact the sector’s working capital.”
Current Market Context
At the time of the announcement, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization was valued at $3.77 trillion.
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