PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Teresa Carballo and Edgar Young, Pacifica Legal
Authority for Transparency and Access to Informa- tion, or ANTAI, is the authority responsible for data protection matters and receives complaints related to access, rectification, cancellation, and opposition rights. This is not limited to blockchain; these rights can apply across all sectors. However, cancellation is not absolute. A company may need to retain data when there is a legal, contractual, regulatory, tax, account- ing, employment, anti-money laundering, or litigation- related basis for doing so. 1.1.4 Smart Contracts Smart contracts should be enforceable in Panama, but this has not yet been meaningfully tested before Panamanian courts. There is no reported Panamanian case law directly deciding whether, or how, a smart contract is enforceable. The analysis is therefore based on ordinary contract law, electronic commerce rules, evidence principles, and the way blockchain projects are being documented in practice. In practice, enforceability usually comes from the legal framework around the smart contract, not from the code alone. Panama-facing blockchain projects typi- cally use the front-end Terms of Use as the primary contractual layer. Those terms should clearly explain what the user is accessing, how the smart contracts operate, what the platform controls and does not con- trol, whether the platform is custodial or non-custo- dial, what risks the user accepts, and which law and dispute-resolution mechanism applies. For corporate structures, smart-contract deployment and administration are usually approved and docu- mented privately through board resolutions, founda- tion council resolutions, bylaws, signer agreements, and development agreements. Where the project uses a multi-signature wallet or multi-signature smart con- tract, the documents should identify the purpose of the wallet, the signers, the approval threshold, signer appointment and removal mechanics, transaction lim- its, emergency powers, upgrade rights, and whether signers act as directors, officers, foundation council members, protectors, administrators, contractors, or purely technical signers.
This matters because multi-signature arrangements are not merely technical tools; they are part of the pro- ject’s governance and control structure. The deploy- ment of smart contracts, treasury wallets, upgrade keys, protocol permissions, and emergency controls should be backed by written authority. Under Panamanian law, the basic contract require- ments remain consent, a lawful and determinable object, and lawful cause. Law 51 of 2008 also sup- ports electronic contracting by regulating electronic documents, electronic signatures, technological stor- Panama does not currently have a formal self-regu- latory organisation for the blockchain industry in the sense of an official body recognised by law or del- egated by regulators to supervise market conduct, issue binding rules, discipline members, or replace licensing requirements. Panama has the Cámara de Comercio Digital y Block- chain , a non-profit association registered in Panama since 2018, whose stated purpose is to promote disruptive digital innovation and develop technology ecosystems. It describes its work as supporting the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies through regulatory, technological, and academic analysis. 1.2 Crypto-Assets 1.2.1 Property Considerations Panama does not yet have a statute that expressly says that crypto-assets are “property”, “money”, “securities”, or a separate class of digital assets. The better legal view, however, is that crypto-assets can be treated as intangible movable property because they possess economic value, control, and transfer- ability. age, and electronic commerce. 1.1.5 Industry and Trade Bodies This conclusion is based on the general property rules of the Panamanian Civil Code. Article 324 provides that all things that are, or may be, subject to appro- priation are considered property, either movable or immovable. Article 326 defines movable property broadly as appropriable property not classified as immovable, and Article 327 also treats rights, obliga-
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