- Buenos Aires now accepts cryptocurrency to settle city taxes and fees via QR payments.
- The city introduced tax measures for crypto businesses including a spread-based gross income rule and relief for VASP collections.
Buenos Aires has enabled cryptocurrency payments for municipal taxes and procedures following a policy package announced on August 19, 2025.
Residents and companies can use crypto to pay property tax known as ABL, vehicle taxes and gross income obligations as well as non tax procedures such as driver licences and traffic fines.
Payments are initiated by scanning a city QR code with eligible wallets. The administration says an aggregator will broaden acceptance across more wallets in the next phase.
City activates QR based crypto checkout for ABL, vehicle and gross income taxes
The measure applies to ABL property tax, vehicle licence plate taxes and gross income liabilities. It also extends to non tax procedures that include driver licence issuance and traffic fines. The mechanism routes a crypto payment initiated from a wallet to the city’s collection system through a QR code.
The city states that only some wallets support the flow today and that an official aggregator is in development to allow direct payments from any wallet with faster settlement.
City Hall frames the move as an efficiency upgrade for taxpayers who earn or invoice in digital assets. Officials highlight that more residents and businesses now receive income in crypto and that the new option aims to reduce friction at the point of payment.
The government stresses that it is not promoting any specific token and that the channel is designed to coexist with pesos and card rails. Policy statements emphasise administrative simplicity and predictable procedures for users.
Administration sets spread based gross income calculation and eases VASP collections
The package includes three fiscal actions targeted at crypto businesses. First, Buenos Aires updates its economic activity nomenclator to include cryptoasset activities so firms can register and file under clearer categories without additional fiscal cost.
Second, the city excludes Virtual Asset Service Providers from certain bank collection regimes tied to the Gross Income Tax, which officials say reduces working capital lockups and clarifies rules.
Third, for entities that buy and sell crypto, the taxable base for Gross Income Tax will shift to the price difference or spread rather than the full transaction amount, aligning treatment with other payment or store of value instruments.
Officials present the combined steps as a legal and administrative framework update that aims to provide certainty for operators and to encourage formalisation of activity within the city.
The policy set is expected to lower compliance overhead for exchanges, brokers and payment processors that operate in the Buenos Aires market while keeping standard reporting and audit trails intact.
From a market structure perspective, acceptance of crypto for city obligations introduces a demand sink that may favour stablecoin use for treasury management by local firms.
Liquidity providers may see higher daytime flows around municipal due dates. Wallet developers will need to map the city QR format and provide clear fee and exchange rate displays so users can assess the cost of settlement in crypto relative to pesos or card alternatives.
Risk controls remain central because price volatility can affect the fiat value of a transaction between initiation and network confirmation, which is why clear time windows and exchange rate locks are operationally important for taxpayers and the city alike.
At the moment of this press, Bitcoin is trading at $113,495.00, down exactly $293.00, which represents a –0.257% decline over the past 24 hours.
