Fintech & payments regulation in Bolivia (2026)
Fintech and digital payments in Bolivia: licensing regime.
Bolivia has an in-force licensing regime for digital payments and fintech. Mobile-payment companies (ESPM) and electronic-card administrators (EATE) issuing electronic payment instruments are licensed and supervised by ASFI under the Financial Services Law (Ley 393), while the BCB operates a mandatory interoperable QR rail. In May 2025 the government enacted Decreto Supremo 5384, creating a dedicated 'Empresa de Tecnología Financiera' (ETF) licence, covering payments, blockchain, tokenized and virtual assets, that requires a constitution permit and operating licence from ASFI, with a regulatory sandbox and an adaptation deadline for existing fintechs.
Legal framework
Ley N° 393 de Servicios Financieros + Decreto Supremo N° 5384 (7 May 2025) and ASFI Resolution ASFI/540/2025 (Reglamento para Empresas de Tecnología Financiera), with BCB's Reglamento de Servicios de Pago e Instrumentos Electrónicos de Pago; supervised by ASFI and the Banco Central de Bolivia (BCB).
Key points: digital payments & fintech in Bolivia
Dedicated fintech licence (ETF)
Decreto Supremo N° 5384 (7 May 2025) and its implementing ASFI Resolution ASFI/540/2025 require fintechs to incorporate as financial entities and obtain a constitution permit plus an operating licence from ASFI, covering payment systems, blockchain solutions, tokenized assets and virtual-asset services (PSAV).
Regulator and scope
ASFI is the licensing/supervisory authority for the financial system, securities and insurance fintech activities; the BCB regulates and oversees the national payment system. ASFI announced it would regulate 209 fintechs (176 virtual-asset providers and 33 payment platforms).
Payment institutions & e-money
Under Ley 393 and ASFI's Reglamento de Servicios de Pago, mobile-payment companies (Empresas de Servicio de Pago Móvil, ESPM) and electronic-card administrators (EATE) are licensed by ASFI and issue regulated electronic payment instruments (IEP), including mobile wallets.
Interoperable instant-payment QR rail
The BCB mandates a common, interoperable QR standard across the financial system (banks, cooperatives, housing-finance and development-finance entities), with obligatory interconnection and free processing on digital channels; QR transfers grew 131% in 2025 vs 2024.
Open payments initiative (OpenBCB)
In October 2025 the BCB launched OpenBCB, framed under Ley 1670 (BCB Law) and the Reglamento de Cuentas Transitorias de Liquidación, to broaden access to QR-based electronic payments and enable non-bank participants to connect to the payment system.
Sandbox and transition period
The ETF regime introduces a regulatory sandbox (Entorno Controlado de Pruebas) under direct ASFI supervision; existing fintechs were given an adaptation window to obtain licences, with the deadline extended to 30 April 2026.
Timeline of decisions
- Decision
- Guidance · officialBCB Publishes 'Primer Informe del Boliviano Digital', Wholesale CBDC Roadmap
The Central Bank of Bolivia released its first formal report on the 'Boliviano Digital,' concluding that a wholesale CBDC targeting financial institutions is the preferred model, and launching a critical development path projected through 2026 to modernise high-value interbank settlement.
Banco Central de Bolivia
- Law · officialASFI Resolution 540/2025, Detailed Fintech Licensing and Sandbox Rules
ASFI issued the operational regulation for Financial Technology Companies (ETF) authorised under Supreme Decree 5384, establishing a 12-to-36-month regulatory sandbox, tiered economic guarantees, and a December 31 2025 deadline for the estimated 209 already-operating fintechs to obtain a constitution permit or operating licence.
ASFI
- Law · officialSupreme Decree 5384, Bolivia's First Statutory Fintech Framework
The executive enacted the first statute expressly recognising and regulating Financial Technology Companies (ETF) across five service lines, payment systems, blockchain/tokenised assets, lending platforms, insurtech and enterprise tech, placing them under ASFI supervision and giving 40+ unregulated fintechs a formal legal basis for the first time.
Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas
- Law · officialBCB RD 163/2024, Unified Integrated Payment Settlement Regulation
The BCB approved a consolidated Reglamento del Sistema de Liquidación Integrada de Pagos (SLIP), unifying and modernising the normative framework for high-value electronic clearing and settlement and superseding prior piecemeal settlement rules.
Banco Central de Bolivia
- Law · officialBCB RD 079/2022, Modernised Payment Services Regulation (Payment Gateways Expressly Covered)
The BCB replaced the 2015 payment services framework with a comprehensive updated regulation that for the first time expressly defined and regulated payment gateway administrators, strengthened consumer-protection obligations for Electronic Financial Entities and Mobile Payment Companies, and aligned Bolivia's payments infrastructure with regional norms.
Banco Central de Bolivia
- Law · officialLaw 393 (Ley de Servicios Financieros), Foundational Legal Architecture for Digital Payments
Bolivia enacted the Financial Services Law that established electronic payment instruments as a regulated category for the first time, assigned ASFI authority to supervise payment service providers, set mandatory consumer-protection standards, and created the statutory base on which all subsequent digital-payments and fintech regulation has been built.
ASFI / Gaceta Oficial de Bolivia
- Decision · officialASFI Resolution 004/2012, Bolivia's First Mobile Payment Licence Granted to Tigo Money
ASFI granted E-FECTIVO ESPM S.A. (Tigo Money) the country's first Mobile Payment Service Company operating licence, and the service formally launched on January 9 2013, marking the commercial birth of Bolivia's digital payments ecosystem and establishing the ESPM licensing model later codified in the 2015 BCB regulation.
ASFI
Sources
- lexivox.org/norms/BO-DS-N5384.html
- asfi.gob.bo/index.php/node/1176
- asfi.gob.bo/sites/default/files/2025-08/Decreto%20Supremo%20N%C2%B0%205384%20de%2
- economiayfinanzas.gob.bo/node/14743
- servdmzw.asfi.gob.bo/Textos/L02T06.pdf
- servdmzw.asfi.gob.bo/circular/Leyes/Ley393ServiciosFinancieros.pdf
- bcb.gob.bo/?q=pagos_qr_bcb_bolivia
- economy.com.bo/articulo/banca-finanzas/banco-central-lanza-openbcb-ampliar-uso-pagos
- larazon.bo/economia-y-empresa/2026/05/17/pagos-con-qr-crecen-131-en-bolivia-y-co
- asfi.gob.bo/sites/default/files/2025-07/Empresas%20de%20tecnolog%C3%ADa%20financi
- instantaneas.tic.bo/2025/07/09/economia/asfi-regula-209-fintech-bolivia-plazo-diciembre/
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Next topicOrientation, not legal advice: verify against the primary sources linked above. Last verified 25 May 2026. Methodology & how to cite · State of Technology Regulation 2026