Spend Crypto Without Selling It. Argentina’s Taxman Is Now Watching
Fintech
Key Facts
—The product. A Mastercard that switches between spending crypto directly and borrowing against it, without selling the position.
—The claim. Nexo describes it as the world’s first crypto card with both modes. Crypto-backed credit cards already existed in Argentina before it.
—The terms. Borrowing advertised from 1.9 percent a year, up to 13 percent annual interest on idle balances, no monthly or annual fee.
—The market. Argentina moved roughly $93.9bn in digital-asset transactions between July 2022 and June 2025, second in Latin America to Brazil.
—The timing. Since May, exchanges and wallets must report user movements to the tax authority every month under resolution 5804/2025.
—The catch. Credit mode is a loan secured on a volatile asset. If the collateral falls far enough, it can be liquidated.
The Nexo crypto card Argentina launch promises the thing every crypto holder wants: purchasing power without a sale. It arrives in the same year the Argentine state started watching every crypto wallet in the country.
Nexo, a digital-asset wealth platform, launched its card in Argentina on Tuesday. The company calls it the first crypto card anywhere to combine a debit and a credit mode.
That description belongs to Nexo, and most of the coverage repeating it was drawn from the company’s own press release. Argentina already had crypto-collateralised credit cards before this one.
What the Nexo crypto card Argentina actually does
In debit mode the card spends the holder’s digital assets directly. In credit mode it treats those assets as collateral and lends against them, so the position stays open and any future appreciation is kept.
Both modes live in one application, and the user toggles between them. That toggle, rather than either function on its own, is the novelty the company is selling.
The advertised terms are attractive. Borrowing starts at one point nine percent a year, idle balances earn up to thirteen percent annually credited daily, and there are no monthly, annual or inactivity fees.
A launch promotion offers ten percent cashback on first use and rewards of up to four hundred and fifty dollars over three months. The card is issued with Mastercard and carries airport-lounge access.
The sentence the marketing leaves out
Credit mode is a secured loan. The security is an asset whose price can halve in a quarter, and if it falls far enough the lender can liquidate the collateral to recover the debt.
Bitcoin dipped below fifty-nine thousand dollars in June, its worst month in years by this newspaper’s account, which is the kind of move that tests a collateral position. The headline rate of one point nine percent is also a floor rather than the going rate.
None of this makes the product unsound. It makes it a margin loan with a payment terminal attached, which is a different thing from a debit card.
Nexo operates in Argentina registered with the securities regulator as a virtual asset service provider. It reports more than eleven billion dollars under management.
Why the Nexo crypto card Argentina landed here first
Argentines did not adopt digital assets for ideology. They adopted them because inflation passed two hundred percent a year and because the state froze bank deposits in 2001, a memory that has never faded.
Between July 2022 and June 2025 the country moved close to ninety-four billion dollars in digital-asset transactions, more than any Latin American market except Brazil. This newspaper has reported that around a quarter of the population now holds crypto.
Nexo says almost three quarters of the Argentine investors it surveyed hold digital assets, the highest proportion in any market it measured. It is making Buenos Aires its regional hub and has appointed a new country manager from August.
The regulatory climate has helped. In April the securities regulator allowed crypto holdings to count toward the wealth threshold that qualifies an investor as professional.
Live Market IntelligenceCrypto — Live Market Board
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Crypto — Live Market Board
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| Instrument | Last | Change | YoY | Prev. | High | Low | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | 64,371 | +1.86% | -44.50% | 63,193 | 64,414 | 62,913 | 27,446,335,488 |
| ETH | 1,796 | +2.95% | -39.22% | 1,744 | 1,800 | 1,737 | 8,968,314,880 |
| SOL | 79.38 | +1.71% | -51.62% | 78.05 | 79.52 | 77.86 | 1,765,205,888 |
| XRP | 1.11 | +1.94% | -56.23% | 1.09 | 1.12 | 1.09 | 1,021,975,808 |
| BNB | 575.91 | +1.31% | -16.01% | 568.47 | 577.48 | 568.24 | 1,026,541,312 |
| ADA | 0.17 | +1.20% | -75.10% | 0.17 | 0.17 | 0.17 | 359,275,808 |
| DOGE | 0.07 | +2.07% | -61.79% | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 491,342,944 |
| AVAX | 6.76 | +1.15% | -67.32% | 6.68 | 6.81 | 6.67 | 215,859,920 |
| LINK | 7.97 | +3.15% | -47.67% | 7.73 | 8.00 | 7.72 | 203,248,624 |
| DOT | 0.88 | +6.17% | -77.44% | 0.83 | 0.89 | 0.82 | 95,406,432 |
| LTC | 44.60 | +1.91% | -52.95% | 43.77 | 44.65 | 43.58 | 193,775,472 |
| BCH | 247.25 | +3.99% | -52.31% | 237.77 | 247.25 | 237.28 | 100,294,008 |
| TRX | 0.33 | -0.63% | +12.25% | 0.33 | 0.33 | 0.33 | 462,802,720 |
| XLM | 0.19 | +3.43% | -36.38% | 0.19 | 0.19 | 0.19 | 240,252,784 |
| HBAR | 0.07 | +1.74% | -62.52% | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 40,888,964 |
| NEAR | 1.95 | +1.33% | -22.70% | 1.92 | 1.96 | 1.91 | 150,867,744 |
| ATOM | 1.59 | +2.46% | -65.60% | 1.55 | 1.59 | 1.54 | 18,365,972 |
| AAVE | 96.66 | +5.92% | -68.72% | 91.26 | 97.88 | 90.95 | 282,990,592 |
The reporting regime nobody is advertising
Since May, under a resolution numbered 5804 of 2025, Argentine exchanges and virtual wallets have been obliged to report their users’ movements to the tax authority every single month.
The international layer closes behind it. Under an international framework for crypto-asset reporting, the first automatic exchange of data between participating countries is scheduled for 2027, covering this tax year.
For the holder, the appeal of spending crypto without selling was partly that no taxable disposal occurred. Borrowing against an asset is not a sale, which is precisely why the credit mode is interesting to a tax lawyer.
The window for treating a crypto wallet as a private ledger is closing in Argentina, and closing in a coordinated way across the region. A card that makes those assets spendable arrives exactly as the assets become visible.
Is it really the world’s first?
That is Nexo’s own description, repeated in coverage drawn largely from its press release, and Forbes Argentina attributed the claim to the company rather than asserting it. Crypto-collateralised credit cards already existed in Argentina before this launch, so what appears genuinely new is the combination of a debit and a credit mode toggled inside a single application.
What is the risk in credit mode?
Borrowing against digital assets means pledging collateral whose value can fall sharply, and a large enough fall allows the lender to liquidate that collateral to recover the loan. The advertised rate from one point nine percent a year is a starting figure rather than the rate every borrower receives.
Does Argentina tax crypto?
Yes, through income tax at five or fifteen percent depending on the transaction, and through the personal assets tax above a set threshold. Since May, exchanges and wallets must report user movements to the tax authority monthly, and an international reporting framework schedules the first cross-border data exchange for 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the Nexo card work in Argentina?
The Nexo card is a Mastercard that switches between two modes: spending crypto directly as a debit card or borrowing against crypto holdings as a credit card, without requiring the user to sell their position. Borrowing rates are advertised from 1.9 percent per year, and the card carries no monthly or annual fee.
Is Nexo really the first crypto card to combine debit and credit modes?
Nexo describes its card as the world's first crypto card to combine both modes, though this claim comes from the company's own press release. Crypto-backed credit cards already existed in Argentina before the Nexo launch.
What are the risks and regulatory conditions surrounding the Nexo card launch in Argentina?
Because the credit mode is a loan secured against a volatile asset, the collateral can be liquidated if its value falls far enough. Additionally, since May 2025, Argentine exchanges and wallets are required under resolution 5804/2025 to report user movements to the tax authority every month.
In depth
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