PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Teresa Carballo and Edgar Young, Pacifica Legal
6. Payments and Stablecoins 6.1 Payments
Both structures require a resident agent, KYC docu- mentation, corporate records, beneficial ownership fil- ings, accounting records and payment of the annual franchise tax. In practice, the key is not regulatory capital but clean structuring: clear entity roles, non-custodial design where intended, board or council approvals, treasury and multi-signature controls, development agree- ments, intellectual property assignments, user terms, privacy policies and proper accounting records. 5.3 Liability Panama has no reported court precedent or specific regulatory enforcement action dealing directly with liability for harm caused by DeFi. Judges have not yet developed a Panama-specific doctrine for proto- col liability, decentralised governance, smart-contract failure, or losses caused by autonomous DeFi sys- tems. The current approach is therefore based on ordinary legal principles. If DeFi causes harm, liability would likely be assessed by looking for an identifiable person or entity with a legal or operational role: the front-end operator, token issuer, development company, cura- tor, administrator, multi-signature signers, directors, promoters, custodians, service providers or any party making representations to users. The more control a party has over the interface, treasury, smart contracts, upgrade keys, user onboarding, strategy design, fees or risk disclosures, the more likely it is to be treated as accountable. For DeFi-related hacks, exploits, unauthorised access or manipulation of systems, Panama’s new Law 478 of 2025 on cybercrime measures is relevant. It introduced or amended offences covering improper interception of computer data, unauthorised copying, use, modifi- cation, damage, deletion or suppression of computer data, obstruction of computer systems, identity imper- sonation through technological means, and the mis- use of access credentials or tools designed to commit cyber offences. It also strengthened digital evidence tools, including expedited preservation of computer data, production orders, search and seizure of stored computer data, and international co-operation.
Payments in crypto-assets are permitted in Panama in private transactions, provided both parties volun- tarily agree to use crypto as consideration. The legal basis is Panama’s constitutional principle of legality under Article 18 of the Constitution: private persons may generally do what the law does not prohibit, while public authorities may act only within powers expressly granted by law. Since Panama has not enacted a law prohibiting crypto payments, they are generally lawful as a matter of private contract. However, crypto-assets are not legal tender, money or electronic currency in Panama, so no person is required to accept them unless contractually agreed, and public law obligations such as taxes or govern- ment fees should generally still be paid in legal cur- rency unless expressly authorised otherwise. Accept- ing crypto as payment for goods or services is not, by itself, a licensed activity, but the analysis changes if the business provides payment, remittance, custody, exchange, deposit-taking or fund-transmission ser- vices, in which case banking, remittance, anti-money laundering, tax and consumer-protection rules may 6.2.1 Fiat Currency and Algorithmic Stablecoins Panama does not currently make a statutory distinc- tion between fiat-backed stablecoins and algorith- mic stablecoins. There is no dedicated stablecoin law, e-money token regime, or regulatory classifica- tion that separately defines “algorithmic stablecoins” under Panamanian law. 6.2.2 Stablecoin Regulation Fiat-backed stablecoins are not specifically regulated in Panama. 6.2.3 Backing Assets Panama does not currently impose specific backing- asset requirements for fiat-backed stablecoins. There is no stablecoin statute requiring 1:1 reserves, mini- mum reserve composition, segregation, qualified cus- todians, audit reports, redemption windows, reserve attestations, capital buffers or restrictions on where reserve assets must be held. become relevant. 6.2 Stablecoins
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