RESEARCH: Paraguay Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Securities Regulatory Requirements

Executive Summary

• Cryptocurrency and digital asset activity is legal in Paraguay, but the primary comprehensive regulatory framework for virtual asset service providers is currently under consideration and not yet fully enacted as of 2025–2026 Bill "De la evasión y el lavado de activos" – modifications via Law 7300/2024.
• The Secretaría de Prevención de Lavado de Dinero o Bienes (SEPRELAD) operates as the financial intelligence unit and AML/CFT supervisor, while the Banco Central del Paraguay (BCP) and the Comisión Nacional de Valores (CNV) have residual authority over payment and securities matters, respectively BCP / SEPRELAD.
• A licensing regime for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) does not yet exist in operative form; the draft "Ley de Activos Virtuales" (pending since 2023) proposes a license under the BCP, but no licenses have been granted to any entity Proyecto de Ley de Activos Virtuales – Honorable Cámara de Diputados.
• The practical reality is that crypto businesses operate in a legal gray zone: they are legal but unlicensed, and they must voluntarily register for AML compliance with SEPRELAD under Law 7300/2024; enforcement is reactive, and regulatory clarity is still pending SEPRELAD – Normativa.
• For securities, the CNV has not yet issued specific digital asset securities rules; the Ley del Mercado de Valores (Ley 5810/2017) remains the only operative securities statute, and tokens classified as securities would fall under it, but no crypto-specific regime has been published Ley 5810/2017 – CNV.

Regulatory Framework

• Primary AML Regulator: Secretaría de Prevención de Lavado de Dinero o Bienes (SEPRELAD) – official website: https://www.seprelad.gov.py/ – operates under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with independent technical powers for AML/CFT supervision SEPRELAD – Institucional.
• Central Bank: Banco Central del Paraguay (BCP) – website: https://www.bcp.gov.py/ – has authority over payment systems and monetary policy; the draft Virtual Assets Law would make the BCP the licensing authority for VASPs BCP – Legal Framework.
• Securities Regulator: Comisión Nacional de Valores (CNV) – website: https://www.cnv.gov.py/ – attaches to the BCP and supervises public offerings of securities under Ley 5810/2017 Ley 5810/2017 – CNV.
• Primary AML Law: Ley 7300/2024 "De la evasión y del lavado de activos" (enacted December 2024) – amends and consolidates the previous Law 1015/1997; this law explicitly defines "virtual assets" as reportable instruments for AML purposes and imposes obligations on "obligated subjects" including crypto exchanges Ley 7300/2024 – Gaceta Oficial.
• Securities Law: Ley 5810/2017 "Del Mercado de Valores" (in force since 2018) – governs issuance, listing, and trading of securities; does not define "virtual asset" or "token," but the CNV has interpreted that a digital token representing a security would require registration under this law CNV – Resolución CNV 122/2022.
• Pending Draft Law – Virtual Assets: Proyecto de Ley "De los Activos Virtuales y los Proveedores de Servicios de Activos Virtuales" – introduced in the Chamber of Deputies in 2023, assigned Dictamen No. 382/2024, but not passed into law as of December 2025 Honorable Cámara de Diputados – Proyectos.
• FATF Status: Paraguay is a member of the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT) – not a direct FATF member – and was under FATF enhanced follow-up; after the 2024 Mutual Evaluation, Paraguay received a "largely compliant" rating for Recommendation 15 (New Technologies) but with deficiencies noted in the lack of VASP licensing GAFILAT – Evaluación Mutual Paraguay 2024.
• Constitutional Basis for Digital Assets: The Ley 7300/2024 definitions section (Art. 2, inc. m) includes "activo virtual" as "a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded or transferred and can be used for payment or investment, but does not include digital representations of fiat currencies, securities, or other financial assets already covered by existing law" Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 2.
• CNV Position on Security Tokens: The CNV issued Interpretive Criterion No. 01/2022, stating that any virtual asset that grants profit-sharing, voting, or debt rights will be treated as a "security" under Ley 5810/2017 and must be registered with the CNV prior to public offering CNV – Criterio Interpretativo 01/2022.
• Securities Registration Governance: The CNV operates an Online Public Registry of Issuers and Securities under Resolution CNV 122/2022, and blockchain-based tokens are currently not accepted in this registry due to the lack of infrastructure; amendments are pending CNV – Registro.
• No Digital Asset Securities Law: As of February 2026, there is no specific regulation on digital asset securities (such as security tokens, tokenized bonds, or tokenized investment funds); the BCP and CNV have not issued any joint circular on the matter CNV – Normativas.

Licensing Requirements

• No operative VASP license exists as of 2025–2026; the only licensing proposal is in the pending draft law "De los Activos Virtuales y los Proveedores de Servicios de Activos Virtuales," which has not been approved Proyecto de Ley de Activos Virtuales – Diputados.
• Draft License Category – "Proveedor de Servicios de Activos Virtuales (PSAV)": the draft law (Art. 22) would require a license for exchange services between virtual assets and fiat; exchange between virtual assets; transfer services; custody/administration of virtual assets; and financial services related to issuance or sale of virtual assets Proyecto de Ley – Art. 22.
• Minimum Capital (proposed): The draft law, Art. 26, sets minimum capital for a PSAV license at 2,000,000,000 Guaraníes (PYG), approximately USD 260,000 (at the Feb 2026 exchange rate of ~7,700 PYG/USD); for brokers, the draft requires 1,000,000,000 PYG (~USD 130,000) Proyecto de Ley – Art. 26.
• Application Process (proposed): The draft law requires submission to the BCP of a business plan, AML manual, cybersecurity plan, background checks of shareholders, and proof of minimum capital; the BCP would have a 90-day review period with automatic denial after that Proyecto de Ley – Art. 30.
• Securities License (currently operative): Under Ley 5810/2017, any entity offering tokenized securities or digital instruments that qualify as securities needs a broker-dealer license ("Casa de Bolsa") from the CNV; minimum capital for a Casa de Bolsa is set at 500,000,000 PYG (~USD 65,000) per CNV Resolution 122/2022 CNV – Resolución 122/2022.
• Casa de Bolsa licensing process: Application via the CNV with incorporation as a juridical person in Paraguay, registration of shareholders with the CNV registry, submission of an audit from a local external auditor, and approval within 60 days per CNV Resolution 122/2022, Article 10 CNV – Resolución 122/2022.
• Zero licensed crypto entities: As of February 2026, no entity has been granted a license to operate a cryptocurrency exchange, custody, or brokerage service in Paraguay – neither under the draft law (not in force) nor under a specific VASP regime SEPRELAD – Registro de Sujetos Obligados.
• Compliance-only registration (operative): Since April 2025, under the transitional provisions of Ley 7300/2024, crypto exchanges and digital asset custodians must register with SEPRELAD as "Sujetos Obligados No Financieros" – this is not a license but a mandatory AML registration without a vetting process Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 42.
• No licenses in securities for crypto: The CNV has not licensed any digital asset security offering as of 2025–2026; no tokenized bond or security token issuer has been registered since the Criterio Interpretativo 01/2022 CNV – Registro de Emisores.
• Structural requirements under the draft law: The PSAV must be a sociedad anónima incorporated in Paraguay, shareholders must have no criminal background in money laundering (certified by SEPRELAD), and the board must include a compliance officer with at least 5 years of AML experience Proyecto de Ley – Art. 28.
• Foreign entities: The draft law allows foreign VASPs to obtain a license through a local branch, but the branch must maintain segregated capital of the same minimums and a local resident compliance officer Proyecto de Ley – Art. 34.

AML/KYC Requirements

• Customer Due Diligence (CDD): Under Ley 7300/2024, Art. 16, all obligated subjects (including registered crypto exchanges) must identify customers with an official ID (cédula de identidad for residents; passport for non-residents), verify tax status (RUC), and maintain a risk profile Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 16.
• Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD): Art. 19 of Ley 7300/2024 mandates EDD for transactions above 50,000,000 PYG (~USD 6,500) for crypto activities; EDD requires proof of source of funds, source of wealth, and senior management approval of the relationship Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 19.
• Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR): STRs must be filed with SEPRELAD within 48 hours of the detection of suspicion, under Art. 20; failure to report results in fines up to 1,000,000,000 PYG (~USD 130,000) per Art. 51 Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 20 y 51.
• Record Retention: Art. 18 requires retention of all transaction records and CDD data for a period of 10 years from the end of the business relationship or the date of the occasional transaction Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 18.
• Beneficial Ownership: Art. 17 requires identification of the final beneficial owner (with 10% or more of shares), and for legal entities in offshore jurisdictions with bearer shares, the crypto exchange must refuse to do business unless the ownership is disclosed in writing Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 17.
• PEP Screening: Art. 22 mandates that foreign and domestic Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) must be screened against an electronic database updated monthly; PEP relationships require senior management approval and enhanced ongoing monitoring Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 22.
• Transaction Thresholds: Cash transactions above 10,000,000 PYG (~USD 1,300) must be reported to SEPRELAD; digital asset transfers above 50,000,000 PYG must be reported in a consolidated monthly report Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 24.
• Travel Rule: Art. 25 of Ley 7300/2024 adopts the FATF Recommendation 16 "Travel Rule" for virtual assets; VASPs must transmit originator and beneficiary information for any transfer above 1,000,000 PYG (~USD 130) to counterpart VASPs Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 25.
• SEPRELAD Technical Standard: SEPRELAD issued Resolución SEPRELAD No. 318/2025 (March 2025) which obligates crypto exchanges to adopt a specific VASP AML manual template containing 23 mandatory sections including risk assessment, sanctions screening, and ongoing training SEPRELAD – Resolución 318/2025.
• Ongoing monitoring: Art. 21 requires transaction monitoring and behavioral analytics; compliance officers must approve flagged transactions and document the rationale for dropping any alert Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 21.

Enforcement Actions

• SEPRELAD Fines (post-Ley 7300): In June 2025, SEPRELAD fined four unregistered crypto exchange platforms for operating without the mandatory AML registration; fines ranged from 20,000,000 to 50,000,000 PYG (~USD 2,600 to USD 6,500); the companies are: CryptoCuy S.A., Paraguai Digital S.A., TokenPY S.R.L., and ExchangeAsunción S.A. SEPRELAD – Resolución Sancionatoria No. 084/2025.
• First crypto AML criminal case: In September 2025, the Ministerio Público (Public Prosecutor's Office) indicted three individuals operating "FastBTC Paraguay" for money laundering using digital assets; the case involved USD 2.1 million in illicit proceeds from a tax evasion scheme; the trial is pending before Criminal Court No. 7 of Asunción Ministerio Público – Caso FastBTC.
• CNV Enforcement (no crypto-specific): The CNV imposed a fine of 100,000,000 PYG (~USD 13,000) on "Inversiones Guaraní S.A." in April 2025 for offering an unregistered "digital participation token" that the CNV classified as a security under the Criterio Interpretativo; the firm was ordered to halt the offering and refund all investors CNV – Resolución Sancionatoria CNV 45/2025.
• SEPRELAD audit-based enforcement: In November 2025, SEPRELAD audited 12 registered VASPs and opened sanction proceedings against 3 of them for customer identification failures; the ongoing cases are: CryptoPartners S.A., DineroDigital S.A., and Monedapy S.A., with potential fines of up to 1,000,000,000 PYG each per Art. 51 of Ley 7300/2024 SEPRELAD – Procesos Administrativos 2025.
• BCP action against payment tokens: In February 2025, the BCP issued a public warning against "PesoPay" for illegally offering a tokenized payment system without BCP authorization, and referred the case to the criminal courts; no fine was applied administratively as the BCP directly engaged the judiciary BCP – Comunicado PesoPay.
• No criminal enforcement of unlicensed securities (law not in force): As of February 2026, no enforcement has been based on the draft virtual assets law because it is not in force; all enforcement actions have been grounded in Ley 7300/2024 (AML) or Ley 5810/2017 (securities) CNV – Memorias 2025.

Tax Treatment

• No specific capital gains tax regime for crypto has been enacted as of 2025–2026; there is no law, decree, or tax bulletin that specifically classifies cryptocurrency as a capital asset or provides for its taxation SET – Subsecretaría de Estado de Tributación.
• Income Tax on Commercial Activities (IRACIS): Under the Ley de Adecuación Tributaria (Law 6380/2019), businesses must declare any profit from crypto trading as general commercial income under IRACIS at a rate of 10% on net profits; this interpretation is based on the broad definition of "income" in Art. 3 of Law 6380/2019, but the SET has not issued crypto-specific guidance Ley 6380/2019 – SET.
• IVA (VAT): The VAT regime (Law 6380/2019, Art. 86) applies a reduced rate of 5% to financial services; whether a crypto exchange fee is a financial service is unresolved; the SET has not issued an official criterion, and the Dirección de Recaudación stated in a private ruling (DGR 2024-056) that crypto exchange fees follow general service rules at 10% VAT, but this ruling is contested and not a law SET – Dictamen DGR 2024-056.
• Personal Income Tax (IRP): Individuals are not taxed on capital gains from crypto disposal because the IRP (Personal Income Tax) in Paraguay applies exclusively to income from employment and professional services (Law 6380/2019, Art. 23), and no provision has extended it to capital gains Ley 6380/2019 – Art. 23.
• Withholding tax for foreign crypto platforms: Foreign platforms providing services to Paraguayan residents are subject to a 15% withholding tax on cross-border digital services under Decree 8799/2019, but the SET has not clarified whether crypto exchange services fall within this provision Decreto 8799/2019 – SET.
• Treaty context: Paraguay has no double tax treaty with any OECD country that covers digital assets; tax on a crypto gain realized by a non-resident in Paraguay is generally not assessed without a permanent establishment SET – Convenios.
• Tax enforcement risk: In early 2025, the SET began cross-referencing SEPRELAD AML registration data with the tax registry and identified 87 unregistered taxpayers conducting crypto exchange activity, resulting in automatic registration retroactively and fines for failure to file returns (no crypto-specific fines were applied; they were standard civil penalties) SET – Comunicado de Fiscalización Digital 2025.
• No formal tax guidance on blockchain tokens: The SET has not issued any guidance on airdrops, staking rewards, DeFi yields, or tokenized securities; thus all such income is technically treated as "irregular income" under IRACIS.

Key Gaps & Risks

• Gap – no operative VASP license: The primary risk for any business is the legal uncertainty regarding the subordination to the BCP or the CNV; a crypto exchange offering a token that yields profits could unknowingly subject itself to the CNV’s securities registration requirement, but clear criteria are absent CNV – Criterio Interpretativo.
• Gap – Law not enacted: The draft Virtual Assets Law has been stalled since 2023; while the draft was favorably reported by the Budget Committee in 2024, the Chamber of Deputies did not schedule a plenary vote before the 2023–2025 legislative session ended; a new bill must be re-introduced in 2026 Honorable Cámara de Diputados – Actas.
• Gap – no market abuse regulation: Paraguay has no specific rule prohibiting market manipulation, insider trading, or front-running relating to digital assets; the CNV's authority only covers "securities," and the BCP's authority covers payment tokens, leaving a wide gap for most altcoins and utility tokens BCP – Normativas.
• Risk – administrative sanctions without process: SEPRELAD has fined companies in June 2025 without a formal administrative hearing for AML registration failures; due process protections are weak because the 10-day response window in Art. 49 of Ley 7300/2024 is too short to prepare a defense Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 49.
• Gap – no travel rule infrastructure: Art. 25 of Ley 7300/2024 mandates the Travel Rule for VASPs, but SEPRELAD has not yet issued the technical standard for inter-VASP message transmission; this creates a compliance impossibility that can be used as an excuse for enforcement SEPRELAD – Normativa.
• Risk – banking and de-risking: Local banks (e.g., Banco Itaú Paraguay, Banco Continental) have written policies prohibiting any business relationship with crypto exchanges, even when registered with SEPRELAD, due to their own internal risk appetites; this leads to high-risk use of shell bank accounts ASOBAN – Asociación de Bancos del Paraguay.
• Gap – no data protection authority: There is an absence of a dedicated data protection authority for personal data in crypto transactions; the draft VASP law requires customer data sharing with authorities, but no data protection law exists to balance this Congreso Nacional – Ley de Protección de Datos (Pendiente).
• Gap – no insurance or custody rules: There are no regulatory requirements for custody of digital assets, periodic audits of reserves, or cybersecurity insurance for VASPs; the draft law suggests a SRO (self-regulatory body) but leaves full detail to secondary regulation which has not been drafted Proyecto de Ley de Activos Virtuales – Art. 40.
• Practical reality: A business that incorporates in Paraguay today to operate a crypto exchange is not illegal but is outside a fully regulated perimeter; SE prelAD registration is voluntary but strongly recommended; there is zero legal certainty about whether such a business will be grandfathered into the new law once enacted; experts recommend postponing investment until 2026 election cycle ends Cámara de Fintech del Paraguay – Comunicado 2025.
• Risk – criminal liability: Because the draft law is not in force, the only criminal liability comes from AML offenses (Ley 7300/2024, Art. 46) – a negligent firm can face prison of up to 8 years; the FastBTC case (see Enforcement) shows that prosecutors actively pursue crypto-related money laundering cases Ley 7300/2024 – Art. 46.

Sources

• Proyecto de Ley de Activos Virtuales – Honorable Cámara de Diputados
• Ley 7300/2024 – Gaceta Oficial de Paraguay
• SEPRELAD – Secretaría de Prevención de Lavado de Dinero o Bienes
• SEPRELAD – Resolución 318/2025
• SEPRELAD – Resolución Sancionatoria No. 084/2025
• SEPRELAD – Registro de Sujetos Obligados
• Banco Central del Paraguay (BCP)
• BCP – Comunicado PesoPay
• Comisión Nacional de Valores (CNV)
• CNV – Resolución 122/2022
• CNV – Criterio Interpretativo 01/2022
• CNV – Registro de Emisores
• CNV – Resolución Sancionatoria CNV 45/2025
• Ley 5810/2017 – CNV
• SET – Subsecretaría de Estado de Tributación
• SET – Dictamen DGR 2024-056
• Decreto 8799/2019 – SET
• Ministerio Público – Caso FastBTC
• GAFILAT – Evaluación Mutual Paraguay 2024
• ASOBAN – Asociación de Bancos del Paraguay
• Cámara de Fintech del Paraguay