GLOSSARY · BLOCKCHAIN & WEB3
Regulatory Sandbox
What a regulatory sandbox is: the controlled space to test innovative financial products under supervision, and which ones exist in Spain and Latin America.
WHAT IS IT? · FOR DUMMIES
A regulatory sandbox is a supervised testing space: the regulator lets you launch an innovative financial product with real customers but within tight limits, watching everything. Neither a free-for-all nor a ban — learning together before regulating.
WHAT IS IT? · PRO
The typical format: application with a testing protocol, limits on volume and customers, supervisor monitoring and an orderly exit (full authorisation, adjustment or closure). In Spain the sandbox of Law 7/2020 runs in periodic cohorts — tokenization projects have gone through it, as we tell in our analysis of the CNMV sandbox. In Latin America, the sandboxes of Mexico's CNBV or Argentina's under the CNV tokenization regime (see tokenization in Argentina) play the same role with their own designs.
For an issuer, the sandbox is a tool, not a destination: it is useful if the product genuinely does not fit the current framework — if it fits, the ordinary route is usually faster than waiting for a cohort.
01 / Key points
- Testing space with real customers, limits and supervision
- Cycle: application, protocol, monitoring, orderly exit
- Spain: Law 7/2020; LATAM: CNBV (MX), CNV regime (AR), among others
- A tool for products that do not fit the current framework
02 / Advantages
- Direct dialogue with the supervisor
- Testing with real customers without full authorisation
- Signal of seriousness to investors
03 / Disadvantages
- Cohort timelines and considerable paperwork
- Strict scale limits during the test
- Leaving the sandbox does not guarantee authorisation