BIND, Petersen advance peso stablecoin projects for Argentine firms

Two Argentine financial holding groups with banking operations are pushing ahead with peso-backed stablecoins for corporate treasury use, bypassing a central bank ban on banks offering crypto services directly.

BIND Group, which manages more than $2 billion in assets and owns BIND Banco Industrial, is developing a peso stablecoin through its virtual asset service provider BEN, according to a report by Iproup. Earlier this year, BEN partnered with Circle to give institutional clients access to USDC for treasury management and payment applications under Argentine rules.

Petersen Group is preparing a separate stablecoin, known as DIPE, through one of its subsidiaries with technical support from crypto infrastructure provider Lirium, the report said. DIPE already has a published whitepaper, signaling the project has moved beyond the planning stage.

Neither offering has been publicly launched. Both target corporate treasury operations – programmable payment conditions, collateral management, treasury settlement using blockchain – rather than consumer payments, Iproup reported.

The Argentine Central Bank has prohibited private banks from providing crypto-related services since May 2022. The projects are being developed through licensed virtual asset subsidiaries, placing them outside the scope of the central bank’s restrictions on financial institutions.

Banking-backed ownership could eventually help expand adoption if regulators later allow banks to provide digital asset services directly, the report added. Argentine authorities are reportedly evaluating whether to ease the restrictions. No formal policy change has been announced.

Regulatory scrutiny has already emerged for peso-linked stablecoins. In March, Argentina’s national securities regulator questioned the argt peso stablecoin, stating it constituted a security being offered without complying with applicable regulations.

The latest initiatives are not Argentina’s first attempt to tokenize the national currency. In December 2022, lawmakers in the province of San Luis passed legislation establishing the legal framework for CityCoin, officially named Activo Digital San Luis de Ahorro. The provincial stablecoin was designed to be backed by the government’s liquid financial assets while supporting blockchain-based public services and administrative efficiency. Operational details were left to future implementation.

Unlike the San Luis initiative, which was introduced through provincial legislation for residents, the new peso-backed tokens are being developed by private financial groups and focus on enterprise financial infrastructure rather than public-sector digitalization.

The Argentine projects arrive as stablecoin adoption accelerates across Latin America’s banking sector. Earlier this month, Tether invested $20 million in Argentine digital bank Ualá as part of the lender’s $197 million funding round, according to Bloomberg. The investment followed Tether’s backing of Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin and Argentine crypto platform Belo, extending the company’s strategy of supporting digital payment infrastructure in the region.

Elsewhere, the Bank of the Philippine Islands launched a pilot program using stablecoins as the settlement layer for cross-border remittances. International payments are settled through stablecoin rails before being converted into Philippine pesos for deposit into customers’ bank accounts, allowing blockchain-based settlement within the regulated banking system.

The institutional focus of Argentina’s proposed peso stablecoins also comes as blockchain-based dollar payments expand globally. CoinDesk Data reported that the global stablecoin market fell 2.39% in June to about $312 billion, the first monthly contraction in five months. Visa’s Allium-powered dashboard showed adjusted stablecoin transaction volume climbed to a record $1.79 trillion during the same month.