Argentina’s government is focused on the regulation of crypto service providers by an executive order.

President Javier Milei would prepare to file an emergency decree to establish a framework to regulate the operation of these service providers, placing it under the oversight of the country’s national securities watchdog (CNV), according to local media reports.

The president would be focused on ensuring Argentina remained out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, where it remained between 2010 and 2014 as a result of its lenient money laundering policies.

The impending visit by the FATF, which is set to review the country’s money laundering countermeasure, would be driving this initiative, Bitcoin.com reports.

All cryptocurrency service providers, within the new decree, would need to register with the national cryptocurrency watchdog and operate under a licence provided by the organisation, even if they are not Argentina-based.

In addition, providers would be required to supply information to the national intelligence unit in order to comply with anti-money laundering laws. This obliges crypto services lenders to file risk reports and report any suspicious activity.

Introducing these regulations may result in the consolidation of the cryptocurrency sector, as major players in the country would be able to adhere to these standards, while smaller exchanges and peer-to-peer markets could have to cease operations due to their inability to meet the requirements.

The executive order is due to be filed before the 6th of March when the Financial Action Task Force is scheduled to visit Argentina to assess the anti-money laundering measures put in place since its last visit.