Argentina’s Banking Groups Are Quietly Building Peso Stablecoins for the Institutional Market
Two major Argentine banking holding groups are quietly developing stablecoins pegged to the Argentine peso, aiming to offer programmable money services to institutional clients. According to a report from Iproup, the BIND Group and the Petersen Group are advancing separate initiatives through subsidiary companies, sidestepping a 2022 central bank ban on private banks offering crypto-related services.
BIND Group, which manages over $2 billion in assets and owns BIND Banco Industrial, is developing its peso stablecoin through its in-house virtual asset service provider (VASP), BEN. The conglomerate has also partnered with Circle to provide institutional access to BEN customers, enabling compliant payments and treasury use cases.
Petersen Group, which owns several regional banks, is working on a second stablecoin called DIPE through a subsidiary, with support from Lirium—a crypto-as-a-service provider already serving Banco Galicia and Brubank. DIPE has a published whitepaper and is reportedly nearing maturity.
Both projects are designed to serve the institutional sector, offering benefits such as streamlined treasury management, conditional payments triggered by on-chain events, and collateralized credit operations. While decentralized peso alternatives already exist, these initiatives have the backing of established banking groups, which could facilitate broader adoption if the central bank lifts its ban on crypto offerings—a move reportedly under consideration.
However, regulatory hurdles remain. In March, the Argentine securities regulator (CNV) declared that argt, a peso-linked stablecoin, constitutes a security being offered without proper compliance, effectively blocking its operations. This action underscores the regulatory risks facing new peso stablecoins, even as demand for digital peso solutions grows among businesses seeking more efficient financial tools.