---
title: "PSAV (Virtual Asset Service Provider, VASP)"
url: "https://www.unknowngravity.com/en/glosario/psav-proveedor-servicios-activos-virtuales"
site: Unknown Gravity
published: "2026-10-03T00:52:39+00:00"
modified: "2026-10-03T00:52:39+00:00"
language: en-US
description: "A PSAV (proveedor de servicios de activos virtuales, virtual asset service provider) is a person or firm that, as a business and on behalf of others, exchanges, transfers or holds virtual assets in…"
section: "Home > PSAV (Virtual Asset Service Provider, VASP)"
---

# PSAV (Virtual Asset Service Provider, VASP)

**A PSAV (proveedor de servicios de activos virtuales, virtual asset service provider) is a person or firm that, as a business and on behalf of others, exchanges, transfers or holds virtual assets in custody, or provides financial services linked to their issuance or sale.** It is the Spanish name for the VASP defined by the FATF (GAFI in Spanish), and the concept used, with nuances, by the anti-money laundering laws of Argentina and Costa Rica.

**Where it comes from: the FATF.** In 2018 the FATF amended its Recommendation 15 and added definitions of virtual asset and VASP to its glossary; in 2019 it adopted the interpretive note to that recommendation (GAFILAT guide, August 2023). For the FATF, a VASP is anyone not covered elsewhere in the Recommendations who, as a business, conducts one or more of these activities for or on behalf of another person:

- exchange between virtual assets and fiat currencies;
- exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets;
- transfer of virtual assets;
- safekeeping or administration of virtual assets or of instruments enabling control over them;
- participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer's offer or sale of a virtual asset.

A virtual asset is a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded or transferred and used for payment or investment purposes; it does not include digital representations of fiat currencies, securities and other financial assets already covered by the Recommendations. VASPs apply the preventive measures of Recommendations 9 to 21 with two particularities: customer due diligence for occasional transactions from USD or EUR 1,000, and the travel rule of Recommendation 16.

**The PSAV country by country.**

- **Argentina:** Law 27,739 (2024) added the definition to art. 4 bis of Law 25,246 with the same five activities, made PSAVs reporting entities before the financial intelligence unit, the UIF (art. 20(13) of Law 25,246), and put the CNV, the securities regulator, in charge of their register (art. 37 of Law 27,739). The CNV regime (General Resolution 1058/2025) adds capital, custody and cybersecurity requirements; on 2 October 2026 its public register listed 81 PSAVs, all of them legal entities. To learn [how to register in Argentina](/en/articulos/vasp-registration-argentina-cnv), see the guide to the CNV register.
- **Costa Rica:** Law 10961 added art. 15 quater to Law 7786. Since 19 September 2026 PSAVs must register with SUGEF, which supervises them for the prevention of money laundering and of terrorist and proliferation financing; the law states that «registration with the Superintendency does not represent an authorisation to operate». More in [asset tokenization in Costa Rica](/en/articulos/asset-tokenization-in-costa-rica).
- **Mexico:** the law does not use the term PSAV. The regular, professional offering of virtual asset exchange through platforms, including custody or transfer, by entities other than financial institutions is a «vulnerable activity», including when Mexican citizens are served from another jurisdiction; reports are due from 210 UMA per customer transaction (art. 17(XVI) of the LFPIORPI, the anti-money laundering law, amended on 16 July 2025).
- **Colombia:** there is no PSAV register. The Superintendencia Financiera states that crypto-asset trading is neither regulated nor supervised; there are only reporting duties to the UIAF (Resolution 314 of 2021) and anti-money laundering duties before the Superintendencia de Sociedades (External Circular 100-000016 of 2020, section 4.2.6). Bill 510 of 2025, which would have created a register, was shelved on 20 June 2026.

**PSAV and CASP.** In the European Union the equivalent figure is the [CASP or crypto-asset service provider](/en/glosario/casp-proveedor-servicios-criptoactivos) under the [MiCA Regulation](/en/glosario/mica-reglamento-criptoactivos). There are three differences:

- **Authorisation versus registration:** in the EU nobody may provide crypto-asset services without authorisation (art. 59 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114). In Argentina, Costa Rica and Mexico the PSAV is above all an anti-money laundering reporting entity, with registration or reporting duties.
- **Scope of services:** MiCA lists ten services, including operating a trading platform, advice and portfolio management (art. 3(1)(16)); the FATF starts from five activities.
- **Tokenized securities:** MiCA does not apply to crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments (art. 2(4)(a)), and the FATF excludes securities from the definition of virtual asset. Even so, in Argentina only PSAVs registered in every category may take part in the CNV securities tokenization regime (art. 14, Section III, Chapter I, Title XXII of the CNV Rules, as amended by General Resolution 1150/2026); see [asset tokenization in Argentina](/en/articulos/asset-tokenization-in-argentina).

**Usual obligations.** Beyond registration, a PSAV identifies its customers, reports suspicious transactions and applies the travel rule: in Argentina under UIF Resolution 49/2024 (arts. 36 and 37); in Costa Rica under art. 15 quater of Law 7786 itself. This is the core of the [AML framework against money laundering](/en/glosario/aml-anti-money-laundering).

**Official sources:** [Law 27,739 (InfoLEG)](https://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/395000-399999/397355/norma.htm); [Law 10961, La Gaceta, Supplement 78](https://www.imprentanacional.go.cr/pub/2026/06/19/ALCA78_19_06_2026.pdf); [LFPIORPI (Mexican Chamber of Deputies)](https://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LFPIORPI.pdf); [GAFILAT guide on virtual assets and VASPs (2023)](https://biblioteca.gafilat.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Guia-para-la-regulacion-ALACFT-AV-PSAV.pdf); [Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, MiCA (BOE)](https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=DOUE-L-2023-80808). *Framework verified as of 2 October 2026.*