Latin America is tokenizing through three distinct routes: dedicated regimes (Argentina, El Salvador), fintech laws with a perimeter for tokenized securities (Mexico, Chile) and fiduciary structures where no specific statute exists yet (Colombia, Ecuador). Understand the three routes and you can issue in almost any market in the region; misread them and you copy the wrong scheme into the wrong country. This is the map, country by country.
Dedicated tokenization regimes
Argentina: the CNVs tokenization regime — shares, corporate bonds, financial-trust certificates and CEDEARs with digital representation, PSAVs as the operational piece and a sandbox with extended windows. The regions most active framework for securities.
El Salvador: the LEAD law and the CNAD — a bespoke regime with authorisations in weeks, 2-4% costs and dozens of real issuances since 2024. Regulatory speed without equal.
Fintech laws with a tokenization perimeter
Mexico: Fintech Law + CNBV; tokenized securities go through the Securities Market Law and non-financial assets are structured with the fideicomiso — the figure Mexicans search 27,000 times a month.
Chile: Law 21.521 + CMF; securities under the Securities Market Law and NCG 502, non-financial assets via VASP registration. The southern cones most complete regulation.
The fiduciary route
Colombia: the SFCs PSAV registry, crypto custody opened to supervised banks and trust companies in 2026, and the fiducia mercantil as the de-facto vehicle of tokenized proptech.
Ecuador: no specific statute or sandbox; the fideicomiso mercantil of the Securities Market Law is the key, with the trustee as regulated anchor.
The second wave: markets with demand and no specific law
Eight more countries where the pattern repeats — no tokenization law, but a securities regulator and a trust — and where we already receive enquiries: Peru (securitisation trust and SMV), Uruguay (Law 20.345 and the BCU), Panama (SMV and trust with no crypto law), the Dominican Republic (SIMV and Law 189-11), Costa Rica (SUGEVAL and SUGEF), Bolivia (the 2024 opening), Venezuela (a framework on hold) and Guatemala (RMV and commercial trust).
What is the same everywhere
Names change (ERIR, PSAV, VASP, fiduciaria, CNAD) but not the anatomy: asset classification, a vehicle with a segregated estate, a token with transfer restrictions, verified identity on every transfer, serious custody and a register a regulated entity answers for. That is the seven-layer platform we build, with each countrys legal layer on top. And the cross-cutting piece arriving now: tokenized money to settle against these assets.
Each country guide links its sources; frameworks evolve — verify current status before structuring. Issuing in the region? Talk to us.