Country overview

#52

Uruguay

Country stats

Rating Points

190

This indicator describes the overall rating of a given jurisdiction on several parameters according to cryptocurrency operations - market volume, crypto regulation, business climate, taxation framework.

Crypto Penetration

1.3%

Estimated percentage of crypto users out of the country's total population based on public data.

Legal Entities

Number of crypto companies registered in the country based on regulator data if available or other types of public data.

Regulation Points

100

An overall assessment of the granularity of crypto regulation in a given country. A high score is also given to countries where cryptocurrency transactions are highly regulated.

Amount of crypto users

44 200

Total amount of crypto users out of the country's total population based on public data.

Taxation points

This figure, according to our analysts' calculations, indicates the overall level of tax burden for cryptocurrency transactions in a given country. The higher the indicator, the lower the burden.

Market volume points

49.3

A rough estimate of this jurisdiction's retail crypto market relative to the rest of the world. The higher the indicator, the higher the market potential.

Status of crypto

Legally allowed

General status of cryptocurrency regulation in this jurisdiction.

Crypto payments

Legally allowed

The legal status of cryptocurrency payments for goods and services in a given country based on information from regulators, public data and feedback from our community.

Security Level

Considerable danger

The overall level of security in a given country based on open data.

Crypto Salaries

No info

The legal status of cryptocurrency salaries to employers in a given country based on information from regulators, public data and feedback from our community.

Business Climate

No data

Overall assessment of the friendliness of this country for crypto-business. This indicator takes into account the cost of obtaining a license and the attitude towards crypto entities in the country.

Stablecoin Regulation

No data

This indicator is evaluating the regulation of stablecoins in a given country. Complex regulation means that it is possible to issue steiblcoins and obtain a license for this activity. Basic regulation means that the issuance of stablecoins is possible, but not all legal aspects are defined in the law. Standard regulation means that there is a legal practice of steylcoin circulation in a given country.

Bad Factors

This section describes the unfavorable economic factors for crypto-business in a given country. These are countries that are under sanctions or on the FATF grey list and other factors.

Types of licenses

Crypto-to-crypto

This license type allows VASP to provide legal exchange from one cryptocurrency to another.

Crypto-to-fiat

This type of license regulates the exchange from cryptocurrency to fiat.

Wallet/Custody

This country has a legal licensing procedure for companies that store cryptocurrency - - crypto wallet providers and custodians.

Fintech

This indicator means that in a given country, companies with fintech licenses (financial services) can legally transact with crypto assets and the country has appropriate licensing procedures.

Good

Medium

Bad

intro

Uruguay is a Latin American country with a high standard of living and security. It's also famous for as Latin America's Switzerland according to relatively low taxes and good business climate.

Security level

Uruguay has a considerable danger security level according to our rating. Jurisdiction has 48.1 points (from 100) for safety level in Numbeo crime rating (1). Homicide level (2) is 11.2 per 100,000 inhabitants a year. Level of firearm-related death (3) 11.67 per 100,000 inhabitants a year.

Crypto Payments

In October 2021 the Central Bank of Uruguya has issued a statement (4) dedicated to cryptoregulations. It’s established that cryptocurrencies may be accepted in the performance of private contractual obligations, freely agreed upon by the parties, as a means of payment, provided that they are used for no other purpose than to serve as such and without prejudice to the applicable regulations on means of payment and legal tender.

Recently, the General Tax Directorate (DGI), through Consultation 6419, adopted the position that cryptocurrencies are intangible personal property that cannot be considered as money. According to this positon, crypto payments may be possible as a legal transaction of exchange of movable or immovable property.

Crypto Salaries

From the general regime of composition and payment of salaries, it turns out that in some instances, cryptocurrencies could be (5) used as consideration for goods and services to individuals. However, regular payment of wages is possible only in national currency.

Legal

Based on Ambito (6), the main crypto regulators in the country are the Superintendency of Financial Services (SSF) and the Central Bank of Uruguay. The government has introduced legislation to the parliament in September 2022, accelerating industry regulation: The Virtual Asset Law (text in Spanish) (7). In December 2022, VA regulation proposals were approved by the local parliament, but never went into effect and the real implementation of crypto regulation in Uruguay took two more years.

In September 2024 the Parliament once again voted on the new edition of crypto regulation - Law 20.345 (8). The President Luis Lacalle Pou signed (9) it in October. According to the bill the Central Bank and Superintendence of Financial Service (SSF) will be the main regulators for crypto in the country. VASPs operating in the country need to get license from the Central Bank. The bill describes AML requirements for VASPs and includes them in the list of institutions, that need to send reports to SSF.

Still, according to existing regulation proposals approved by the local parliament, Uruguay will implement 2023 a licensing regime for VASPs under the Central Bank of Uruguay and its Superintendency of Financial Services (SSF).

Taxation

Tax name	Index
PIT tax Min	36
PIT tax Max	36
Corporate tax (CIT)	25
Min Individual CGT (for crypto)	10
Max Individual CGT (for crypto)	36
Wealth tax Min	0.1
Wealth tax Max	0.15

PIT

PIT tax has progressive scale with headline 36% rate. For Non-residents it's 12% according to PWC (10). Also foreigners can get tax benefits in Uruguay - 0% for investors and for people who moved and get residence permit - 10 years of non-dom tax exemption for overseas income.

CIT

The Headline CIT rate is 25%.

CGT

Corporate capital gains are subject to CIT and taxed at 25%, personal capital gains - 12%.

Links

1)Crime Index by Country 2023 Mid-Year

2)List of countries by intentional homicide rate

3)List of countries by firearm-related death rate

4)Novedades: activos virtuales - criptomonedas. News: virtual assets - cryptocurrencies. Article

5)Pago de salarios mediante criptomonedas. Payment of salaries through cryptocurrencies. Article

6)Diputados aprobó el proyecto de ley de regulación de criptomonedas. Deputies approved the cryptocurrency regulation bill. Article

7)Proyecto para Regular Activos Virtuales. Project to Regulate Virtual Assets. Article

8)Ley N° 20345

9)Bitcoin.com Uruguay Passes Cryptocurrency Law

10)PWC Taxsummaries Uruguay

Last update: November 2024

Articles

research

Uruguay is a Latin American country with a high standard of living and security. It's also famous for as Latin America's Switzerland according to relatively low taxes and good business climate.

Security level

Crypto Payments

Crypto Salaries

Legal

Taxation

Tax name	Index
PIT tax Min	36
PIT tax Max	36
Corporate tax (CIT)	25
Min Individual CGT (for crypto)	10
Max Individual CGT (for crypto)	36
Wealth tax Min	0.1
Wealth tax Max	0.15