Mexico, which amended its first crypto regulations in 2019, is one of the largest crypto-friendly countries in Latin America. At the same time, it has still some regulatory uncertainty and a lack of VASP regulations.
According to local tax authority Prodecon (1), "12% of the Mexican adult population owns some cryptocurrency, which is why the country ranks as the ninth nation with the highest rate of possession of these instruments in the world."
Mexico has a very high danger level, according to our research. It has 53,8 points (from 100) for safety in Numbeo crime rating (2). Homicide level (3) is 1,1 per 100,000 a year. Story of firearm-related death (4) 2,8 per 100,000 a year.
Based on Mondaq (5), virtual assets do not constitute legal tender in Mexico and are not currencies under the current legal framework.
According to local tax authority Prodecon (6), business transactions in crypto are allowed in the country.
There is no regulation for crypto salaries in Mexico. However, they are possibly legal by mutual agreement of the parties.
The country has two primary regulators - Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) and Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV). You may check regulators' opinions in the overview of virtual assets regulation worldwide from the Central Bank of Mexico (7).
Based on Chambers (8) Circular 4/2019 (9) and Communication № 039 (10) from Banxico, the first crypto regulation in the country was implemented in 2019.
In May 2021, Mexican legislators established some crypto regulations in Fintech law. It's called in Spanish “Ley para Regular las Instituciones de Tecnología Financiera.”
The FinTech Law allows financial institutions to operate with virtual assets. Сurrently, there are only mandatory licensing procedures for these institutions working with VA: Financial Technology Institutions (“FTIs”), Collective Financing Institutions (“CFIs”), and Electronic Payment Funds Institutions - ("EPFIs", "Institución de Fondos de Pago Electrónico" in Spanish).
No license is required for ordinary VASPs. However, some VASPs also have (11) FinTech license. For instance, Bitso, Mercado Libre and Volabit are registered as "Institución de Fondos de Pago Electrónico".
Mexico didn’t provide changes for its crypto regulation in 2024. Crypto currencies are defined in the Fintech law 2021, which defines crypto activities and allows it. However, abilities of financial institutions to provide it are strictly limited - they need approval of Banxico (Central Bank of Mexico).
As for crypto exchange activities the regulation for 2024 still stays not very clear. Based on the section 17 of local AML act (12) passed in 2021 crypto activities are legal and crypto companies only need to provide information to local tax authority (SAT) and local financial intelligence unit (UIF).
According to El Economista (13), amount of registered crypto companies by UIF consists of 53 legal entities. For the first half of 2024 these companies provided 604,404 transactions on the sum larger then 70,111 pesos (about $3,400 USD). And this is 113% more than for the whole 2023 year. If we extrapolate this data to the whole of 2024, we get that volume of crypto transactions in Mexico for 2024 year probably grew up more than 4 times. El Economista got this information from UIF Report №330027724000832, which we haven't find in the internet, but this data coincides with the materials of the speech of the head of the UIF Pablo Gomez to the President of Mexico, which was published on the UIF website (14).
Based on PWC Tax Summaries (15) average taxes for crypto operation implied to local residents in Mexico are: 25% CGT tax, progressive PIT rate from 1.92% to 35%, and the corporate tax rate is 30%.
1) Operaciones con criptomonedas deben de pagar ISR: Prodecon
2) Crime Index by Country 2023 Mid-Year
3) List of countries by intentional homicide rate
4) List of countries by firearm-related death rate
5) Mondaq. Mexico: Virtual Currencies Comparative Guide
6) El Economista. Operaciones con criptomonedas deben de pagar ISR: Prodecon.
7) Sobre los activos virtuales, los riesgos relevantes y el posicionamiento del Banco de México.
8) Chambers and partners. Cryptocurrencies in Mexico.
9) BANCO DE MEXICO. CIRCULAR 4/2019.
11) Mexico Issues First License Under New FinTech Law
12) Ley Federal para la Prevención e Identificación de Operaciones con Recursos de Procedencia Ilícita
13) El Economista Alertas antilavado ante la UIF por activos virtuales se duplican
14) Gobierno de Mexico. Versión estenográfica de la participación del Titular de la UIF...
15) PWC Tax Summaries. Mexico
Last update: January 2025
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