Chile#
Chile has no crypto-specific licensing statute. Instead, the general Fintech Law (Ley N° 21.521, enacted January 2023) created a CMF-administered 'Financial Services Providers Registry' covering an enumerated list of fintech activities (crowdfunding platforms, alternative transaction systems, credit/investment advisory, custody of financial instruments, order routers/financial-instrument intermediaries). CMF General Rule No. 502 (Norma de Carácter General N° 502), effective 3 February 2024, operationalises registration and authorization for these enumerated categories. Crypto-asset exchanges and virtual-asset service providers (VASPs) as such are not an explicitly named category; a crypto business only falls inside the CMF perimeter if its activity matches one of the enumerated services and the underlying token qualifies as a regulated financial instrument. This creates a coverage gap for pure crypto-to-crypto or crypto-to-fiat exchange/custody services that do not intermediate CMF-recognised financial instruments.
On 25 June 2026, the CMF exercised exactly this cancellation power under Resolucion Exenta N6825, terminating the RPSF registration of Inversiones Plusservice SpA, operating as Plusspay, and ordering the return of client funds to affected customers. The same action cancelled or rejected approximately twenty other registrations or applications, indicating this was a systematic compliance sweep rather than an isolated case targeting Plusspay alone. The materiality of the Plusspay matter specifically is substantial: prosecutors have linked the platform to a Tren de Aragua money-laundering network alleged to have moved more than USD 84 million through stablecoins, meaning the entity whose registration lapsed under the Article 13 deadline mechanism was simultaneously, on prosecutorial allegation, functioning as a large-scale laundering conduit.
The CMF has separately and publicly acknowledged a structural limit on its own authority: it cannot exercise ongoing supervisory or sanctioning power over platforms that were never registered or authorised under the RPSF framework in the first place. Its available response to such platforms is limited to public alert and referral to prosecutors, a materially weaker toolkit than the cancellation-and-fund-return remedy available against registered entities that default on their Article 13 authorisation obligations. This asymmetry, strong recourse against registered defaulters, weak recourse against never-registered operators, is the single most important structural feature of Chiles crypto-licensing perimeter as it stands.
The practical consequence is a regime that is, in traffic-light terms set by the interpreter, functioning but incompletely closed: a licensing perimeter exists and is actively enforced against entities that cross into it, but the perimeter itself is porous to entities that simply decline to register at all, and the twelve-month Article 13 clock only begins running once an entity has already registered, offering no mechanism to compel registration in the first instance beyond the general requirement to do so.
Outlook
The near-term trajectory is one of continued enforcement activity against registered entities that default on their Article 13 authorisation obligations, consistent with the systematic character of the June 2026 cancellation action. Whether the CMF seeks expanded statutory authority to address platforms that never register at all is the open structural question; no source reaching this cycles research indicates such a proposal is under consideration. Future cycles should watch for any amendment to Ley N21.521 addressing this specific gap, and for any further detail on the scale, destination, or current legal status of the stablecoin flows prosecutors have attributed to the Plusspay-linked network.
Crypto Licensing
Chile's crypto-asset licensing perimeter runs through the Fintech Law and the Comision para el Mercado Financiero's implementing general rules rather than through a bespoke VASP statute. CMF General Rule 502, in force since 12 January 2024, is the consolidated instrument: it requires registration in the Registro de Prestadores de Servicios Financieros for Fintech Law service providers generally, and, specifically for those engaged in intermediation and custody of crypto-assets, prior CMF authorisation before they may begin operating. This is a two-tier structure: registration as a baseline requirement, and authorisation as an additional, activity-specific gate for the higher-risk custody and intermediation functions.
On 9 February 2026, CMF issued General Rule 559, which introduced a prior-notice, or aviso previo, mechanism. This applies to entities that are already supervised by CMF under a different regulatory regime, such as an existing banking or securities licence, and that wish to extend into Fintech Law services. Rather than requiring those entities to go through a fresh full authorisation process, NCG 559 lets them proceed on the basis of prior notice to CMF, recognising that CMF already has supervisory visibility over them through their existing licence. This is a meaningful simplification for incumbent regulated financial institutions looking to add crypto-asset services, though it does not change the underlying registration-plus-authorisation structure for new entrants without an existing CMF relationship.
A further element of General Rule 502, found in Chapter XII, imposes a capital surcharge tied to risk management. This has been enacted but is not yet in force: its effective date is 1 July 2027. Firms already operating or planning to operate crypto-asset intermediation or custody services in Chile should treat this as a known, dated future compliance obligation rather than a present one, and should plan their capital structure with that mid-2027 date in view.
Outlook
The licensing perimeter is being built out activity by activity rather than through a single consolidated statute, and the clearest forward marker is the 1 July 2027 effective date for the General Rule 502 Chapter XII capital surcharge. No further consolidation of the registration-and-authorisation structure into a single VASP license type has been identified; the regime should be expected to continue evolving through further CMF general rules rather than primary legislation in the near term.
2 earlier distinct update(s)
Crypto Licensing
Chile's crypto-asset licensing perimeter runs through the Fintech Law and the Comision para el Mercado Financiero's implementing general rules rather than through a bespoke VASP statute. CMF General Rule 502, in force since 12 January 2024, is the consolidated instrument: it requires registration in the Registro de Prestadores de Servicios Financieros for Fintech Law service providers generally, and, specifically for those engaged in intermediation and custody of crypto-assets, prior CMF authorisation before they may begin operating. This is a two-tier structure: registration as a baseline requirement, and authorisation as an additional, activity-specific gate for the higher-risk custody and intermediation functions.
On 9 February 2026, CMF issued General Rule 559, which introduced a prior-notice, or aviso previo, mechanism. This applies to entities that are already supervised by CMF under a different regulatory regime, such as an existing banking or securities licence, and that wish to extend into Fintech Law services. Rather than requiring those entities to go through a fresh full authorisation process, NCG 559 lets them proceed on the basis of prior notice to CMF, recognising that CMF already has supervisory visibility over them through their existing licence. This is a meaningful simplification for incumbent regulated financial institutions looking to add crypto-asset services, though it does not change the underlying registration-plus-authorisation structure for new entrants without an existing CMF relationship.
A further element of General Rule 502, found in Chapter XII, imposes a capital surcharge tied to risk management. This has been enacted but is not yet in force: its effective date is 1 July 2027. Firms already operating or planning to operate crypto-asset intermediation or custody services in Chile should treat this as a known, dated future compliance obligation rather than a present one, and should plan their capital structure with that mid-2027 date in view.
Outlook
The licensing perimeter is being built out activity by activity rather than through a single consolidated statute, and the clearest forward marker is the 1 July 2027 effective date for the General Rule 502 Chapter XII capital surcharge. No further consolidation of the registration-and-authorisation structure into a single VASP license type has been identified this cycle; the regime should be expected to continue evolving through further CMF general rules rather than primary legislation in the near term.
Crypto Licensing
Ley N21.521 (Ley Fintec) establishes Chile's core crypto-asset licensing framework. It requires registration in the CMF's Registro de Prestadores de Servicios Financieros (RPSF) and per-service prior authorisation, with a statutory maximum authorisation period of six months, for entities commercialising enumerated financial services including crypto-asset intermediation and custody. This registration and authorisation obligation has been in force since 3 February 2024 and constitutes the binding legal perimeter for any crypto-asset provider operating in Chile.
The practical operation of this perimeter, however, lags its legal scope. As of 6 October 2026, Buda.com and CryptoMKT, Chile's most prominent domestic crypto-asset exchanges, remained described as "en proceso de incorporacion" or "en tramite" before the CMF, rather than holding full authorisation as proveedores de servicios sobre activos virtuales. This indicates a supervisory-completion lag: the obligation to register and meet applicable standards attaches under the statute regardless of where a given platform sits in the authorisation queue, but the CMF's actual completion of authorisation for the largest local platforms has not yet caught up with the legal requirement.
A separate open question concerns PSAV-specific prudential capital requirements. CMF NCG N502 is understood to specify capital or own-funds requirements for certain financial-services providers, but no PSAV-specific capital figure could be located this cycle; only secondary commentary describing a 500 UF routing guarantee applicable to order-routing services with more than 100 clients was found, which is not confirmed to be PSAV-specific. This gap in sourced detail is recorded rather than filled by inference.
Separately, CMF Norma de Caracter General N569 postponed the go-live date for the Sistema de Finanzas Abiertas (Open Finance regime) from July 2026 to July 2027, a development of indirect relevance to crypto-asset providers who may eventually fall within an open-finance data-sharing scope.
Outlook
The item to watch most closely is whether CMF completes authorisation for Buda.com, CryptoMKT, and any other platforms currently in the registration queue, since this would close the gap between Ley Fintec's legal perimeter and its practical supervisory completion. Separately, confirmation of PSAV-specific capital requirements under NCG 502, if and when sourced, would resolve an open gap in the current compliance picture for intermediation and custody providers.
Sources and findings (6)
- T3U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR filing by Banco de Chile) — Law No. 21,521 (the Fintech Law), enacted in January 2023, establishes a general framework for financial services provided through technological means, aiming to protect financial customers and data privacy while preserving financial stability and strengthening anti-money-laundering controls. retrieved M4 binding in force
- T3U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR filing by Republic of Chile) — CMF General Rule No. 502, issued 12 January 2024 and effective 3 February 2024, regulates the registration and authorization process for companies providing enumerated fintech services (crowdfunding platforms, alternative transaction systems, credit and investment advice, custody of financial instruments, order routers and financial instrument intermediaries) via a Financial Services Providers Registry administered by the CMF, with a 12-month transition window for existing entities. retrieved M5 binding in force
- T3U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR filing by Republic of Chile) — In April 2019 the Chilean government referenced a forthcoming bill 'regulating cryptocurrencies and fintech' intended to ensure regulatory symmetry between traditional financial services and technology-based industries; this early legislative initiative preceded and informed the eventual Fintech Law (Ley 21.521) but did not itself enact crypto-specific rules. retrieved M2 non-binding
- T1Ley N°21.521 (Ley Fintec) — registration in CMF's Registro de Prestadores de Servicios Financieros and prior CMF authorisation for crypto-asset intermediation and custody services retrieved M5 binding in force
- T3CMF NCG 559 — CMF-supervised traditional entities exempt from RPSF registration must give CMF prior notice via the Supervisa platform before starting a Ley Fintec-regulated service; banks remain barred from art. 5(2)(7) services until CMF issues specific bank rules retrieved M3 binding in force