PANAMA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Kharla Aizpurua O., Roberto Vidal and Miguel Arias, Morgan & Morgan
from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MICI) is required to operate as a finance com - pany. Law 51 Law 51 of 22 July 2008, as amended ( “Law 51” ), regulates e-commerce, defining it as any transaction or exchange of information for com - mercial purposes conducted over the internet. It includes obligations for service terms and condi - tions, privacy policies, and security protocols. The Data Protection Regulation Law 81 of 2019, regulated by Executive Decree 285 of 2021 (the “Data Protection Regulation” ), governs the protection of personal data of natu - ral persons, including its handling, storage, and treatment. It applies to data processing originat - ing or stored in Panama and data processing within the framework of commercial activities on the internet or other electronic means, ensuring data protection for activities targeting the Pana - manian market. Cryptocurrencies or Virtual Assets Currently, no law or regulation applies to virtual assets, cryptocurrencies or virtual currencies in Panama. In this context, both the SBP and the securities regulator ( the Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores or SMV) have issued public notices and opinions (respectively) stating that they do not supervise cryptocurrencies in gen - eral. The securities regulator does not consider cryptocurrencies as “securities” because these are not encompassed within such definition in the Securities Law. Similarly, the banking regu - lator does not consider cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as “legal tender” or any other monetary instrument subject to its jurisdiction, as the definition of “monetary instrument” in Agreement 5-2018 issued by the banking regu - lator indicates that monetary instruments are “[b]
anknotes and metallic coins of legal tender in Panama or any other country, traveller’s checks, precious metals, local and foreign checks, and any other type of resources, rights, goods or merchandise” . As a result of the above, crypto- exchanges and crypto-wallets have no precise regulator or regulation in Panama. SMV Through Opinion 07-2018, the SMV indicat - ed that it does not consider cryptocurrencies (specifically referring to Bitcoin) as currencies given that to date, “in the Republic of Panama, no inherent value has been given to Bitcoin or another type of cryptocurrency.” SMV also con - firmed that the concept of “Securities” under the Decree Law 1 of 1999 – which regulates the Securities Market in Panama (the “Securities Law” ), does not encompass virtual currencies and/or cryptocurrencies, so these are not con - sidered a security. Finally, the SMV established that no Forex regulation applies to cryptocurren - cies since it only applies to currencies, which are exclusive and incidental activities of the broker- dealer houses. The Statement of 25 April 2018 referred to cryp - tocurrencies as “digital assets that are intended to make purchases, sales or other financial trans - actions, are created by companies or individuals and are stored electronically in a blockchain, a database that maintains a permanent record of these digital transactions.” Therefore, the SMV does not consider digital assets, cryptocurren - cies, or virtual currencies subject to its supervi -
sion. SBP
Unlike the SMV, the SBP’s opinions are not public, so they cannot be verified in this article. However, on 24 April 2018, the SBP issued a public notice warning the general public about
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