Leonardo Azurduy – Juan Pablo Sanchez
On May 7, 2025, Bolivia marked a historic milestone with the issuance of Supreme Decree No. 5384 — the first regulation in the country to formally acknowledge and govern Financial Technology Companies – FTCs (commonly known as fintechs in jurisdictions with more innovation-friendly environments). This decree sets forth the State’s position on the understanding and regulation of technological innovation applied to finance.
Through this decree, FTCs are officially recognized as legal entities, and a regulatory framework is established to allow startups and companies offering financial, capital market, and insurance services based on technology to operate legally in Bolivia.
This regulation also reflects the continuity of recommendations issued by the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT), which prompted the issuance of Board Resolution No. 82/2024 by the Central Bank of Bolivia on June 26, 2024. That resolution was followed by Administrative Resolution No. 19/2025, issued by the Financial Investigations Unit (UIF) on April 16, 2025. These prior resolutions initially addressed virtual assets, suspending restrictions on their use and introducing preliminary classifications for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).
Key Highlights
The decree continues this regulatory trajectory with the incorporation of the following core elements:
Express recognition of disruptive technologies, including blockchain, tokenized assets, virtual assets, and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).
Establishment of a regulatory sandbox: A controlled testing environment designed to allow FTCs to pilot innovative solutions under regulatory oversight.
Cross-sectoral application: The decree’s scope extends beyond financial institutions to include capital markets and the insurance sector, thereby creating a unified framework for technological supervision.
Definitions Introduced
Among the key definitions included in the Decree are:
Tokenized Asset: A digital representation of real or financial assets on a blockchain.
Virtual Asset: A transferable digital value used as a means of payment or investment, distinct from fiat currency.
Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP): Includes entities such as exchanges, custodians, and investment platforms dealing in crypto-assets.
Regulatory Sandbox: A controlled space for testing financial technologies under government supervision.
Current Status and Next Steps
The next critical step lies with the Financial System Supervisory Authority (ASFI), which has been tasked with issuing the regulatory framework for the implementation of Supreme Decree No. 5384 within forty (40) days of its publication. The Decree mandates that FTCs must be established as financial entities and obtain an operating license from ASFI.
As indicated during the public presentation of the Decree by the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance, several companies are already offering or operating services that fall under the following categories:
a) Solutions involving Blockchain, Tokenized Assets, Virtual Assets, and/or VASPs;
b) Payment Solutions;
c) Financing Platforms;
d) Enterprise Technologies.
Once ASFI issues the relevant regulations, all operational entities must comply with the provisions of Decree 5384 and its corresponding regulations.
The issuance of Supreme Decree No. 5384 takes place amid a complex political and economic landscape in Bolivia, marked by limited access to foreign currency, depreciation of the local currency, and approaching general elections. These conditions have accelerated the population’s adoption of technological tools in both everyday and commercial economic activities. In this context, the regulation presents a valuable opportunity to promote the development of inclusive financial solutions — such as digital assets, crypto-assets, and neobanks — that can expand access to financial technologies for the Bolivian public.
While the true impact will depend on the specific regulatory framework issued by ASFI, the formal recognition of FTCs and VASPs establishes the groundwork for a new generation of digital financial services. It is therefore essential that ASFI’s future regulation clearly limits its scope, in accordance with existing legal frameworks, to companies or startups that provide services or engage in activities within the financial, capital market, and insurance sectors. It should explicitly exclude companies or startups that, although technological in nature, do not engage in financial intermediation or the provision of financial services per se — entities that, by definition, also fall under the broader concept of fintech.
The challenge is twofold: the private sector must adapt, while regulators must maintain a modern, technically sound, and balanced approach — one that enables innovation to flourish rather than stifle it prematurely.
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