By: Pablo Rutigliano
Argentina’s National Securities Commission (CNV) has decided to move into territory it does not understand: the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). And it has done so with resolutions such as 1081, which are not only technically untenable but also represent a genuine regulatory mess.
Far from opening a path to growth and democratization, the CNV clings to a model that perpetuates the monopolization and cartelization of the Argentine economy. Its intervention does not respond to the public interest or to any real defense of investors. It responds to the same old logic: shielding the same players who for decades grew rich at the expense of plundering the nation’s resources.
Tokenization is much more than a financial instrument. It is the opportunity to open up access to financing, with transparency, traceability and scalability. It is the chance for early-stage projects —from an SME in the Argentine Puna to a yerba mate cooperative in Misiones— to become key players in a new economic paradigm.
But with the CNV meddling in a field it does not understand, what should be a technological revolution turns into a bureaucratic maze, designed so that nothing changes.
The true meaning of tokenization
When we talk about tokenization, we are talking about something radically different from traditional instruments. This is not about financial trusts, nor unbacked paper. It is about turning tangible and intangible assets into traceable digital representations, with clear rules, verifiable valuation formulas and the possibility of accessing an open market.
The essence is to democratize the economy. To allow innovative ideas, early-stage projects and industries with potential to find financing without depending on banks or on the financial elite that has always imposed its conditions.
Tokenization makes it possible to create win-win models, where capital flows in and out transparently, where feedback generates genuine economic growth, and where corruption and opacity have no place.
Talking about tokenization means talking about progress, about inclusion, about an economic model that is traceable from origin to completion. And above all, it means talking about sovereignty: about Argentines being able to add value to our resources without others taking them away for pennies.
The CNV’s conceptual error
The CNV insists on straitjacketing tokenization under rules designed for a world that no longer exists. It tries to apply the logic of the Capital Markets Law, an obsolete law, to a model that demands new conceptual frameworks.
But tokenization does not fit there, and it cannot fit. Tokens are not securities, and trying to treat them as such ignores their essence. Blockchain does not replicate the old system: it replaces it.
The problem is not technical, it is political. The CNV does not seek to bring order. It seeks to control. And by controlling, what it does is slow down the process of economic digitalization. It acts as if it had authority over territory that does not belong to it, while the institution that should really intervene —the Financial Information Unit (UIF)— is sidelined.
The UIF should ensure that tokenized projects meet standards of traceability and financial crime prevention. That is real oversight. Not that of a CNV which, under the excuse of “protecting investors,” does nothing but shield privileges and keep alive an exhausted system.
The cost of falling behind
Every time the CNV applies the brakes, Argentina loses. Entrepreneurs who cannot access financing lose. SMEs that cannot scale lose. Young people who could work on innovative projects and are forced to emigrate lose.
Meanwhile, the world moves forward. Countries that understood the importance of tokenization already have regulatory frameworks that foster the development of new digital economies. And Argentina, with its strategic resources, could be at the forefront.
Lithium, water, food, services… everything can be tokenized. Everything can be part of a model that guarantees transparency, traceability and scalability. But instead of driving this path forward, the CNV slows it down, imposing traditional schemes that do not fit and that destroy opportunities.
This delay is not neutral. It favors those who have always benefited from plundering and under-invoicing. We saw it in Criminal Case 3309/23, when the courts ruled in favor of the Latin American Lithium Chamber against mining cartelization. And we see it today in Criminal Case 36,601/25, where those who acted against Atómico 3 and against a transparent tokenization model will have to answer for it.
Corruption and the elite
What lies behind Resolution 1081 is not a technical error. It is the invisible hand of the financial and mining elite, seeking to control tokenization in order to strip it of meaning.
They talk about protecting investors, but in reality they protect monopolies. They talk about regulation, but in reality they design a system so that nothing changes. And worst of all: they claim the authority to regulate something they do not understand.
This is no minor issue. It is an assault on the rights of Argentines. Because tokenizing is also an act of sovereignty: it is the possibility for the people to access a transparent and traceable economic model, free from the shadow of corruption that has always hung over this country.
The future they will not be able to stop
For all these reasons, I say it clearly: the CNV must step aside. Its officials should resign for the damage they are causing to innovation, to SMEs, to financing and to the future of Argentina.
This is not a personal whim. It is about defending a collective right: the right to take part in the technological revolution that is transforming the world.
Tokenization cannot be held hostage by bureaucrats. It is the way to put an end to plundering, to build a transparent metals and futures market, to eliminate under-invoicing, to give entrepreneurs the chance to grow and Argentines the opportunity to live in a country with real economic sovereignty.
Lithium, water, energy, food… all our resources can be tokenized under a transparent model. And that model is not only possible: it is inevitable.
The CNV may delay, it may put up obstacles, it may keep favoring its friends in the elite. But history is stronger. And history will say that tokenization is the future, and that no one, absolutely no one, will be able to stop it.
The real mess is not just Resolution 1081. The real mess is an institution’s inability to understand the future and its obsession with defending an exhausted model.
Today Argentina needs transparency, traceability and scalability. It needs to leave behind the financial and mining elite that has always exploited the people. It needs a tokenized, open, democratic and sovereign market.
Because tokenization is not empty rhetoric. It is the tool that can end corruption, that can finance SMEs, that can turn resources into real value for the country.
I repeat it firmly: the CNV has neither the technical nor the moral authority to regulate what it does not understand. And if they insist on doing so, it will be clear that their only goal is to perpetuate a corrupt system.
