Argentina has suspended its blockchain-based company registration platform called Companies with Simplified Shares (abbreviated as SAS in the country), reported El Cronista. The country’s General Inspection of Justice (IGJ), which registers and supervises companies, passed a resolution stating the agency should get more control over the companies registered on the blockchain system and hence imposed a sixth month suspension.
Launched in 2017 by the previous government of Mauricio Marci, SAS enabled entrepreneurs to register their business digitally within 24 hours, as opposed to 55 days. The platform is targeted at SMEs and was set up using the Blockchain Federal Argentina (BFA), an open platform initiated by the government.
Sinceits launch, the SAS has allowed the creation of about 20,000companies and created over 47,000 jobs. The IGJ said the processbegan and ended in the ambit of the Ministry of Public Innovation,with the IGJ reviewing the process.
Now,the IGJ wishes to have more say in the registration of companies andhas mandated that all documents submitted digitally on the SAS bemade available in physical paper form. The suspension of the platformwill last for six months.
“Thereis no control. The Macrismo thought that by enabling the constitutionof companies in 24 hours we would have a lot of investments. It wascrazy,” said Ricardo Nissen, head of the IGJ.
However,the decision to suspend the blockchain platform has drawn criticismfrom the Associationof Entrepreneurs of Argentina (ASEA).
“Itis a decision that delays and hinders the work of Argentineentrepreneurs,” said Alejandro Ramirez, head of Public Policy atASEA. “Until today, accounting books were kept digitally throughthe Blockchain system, which guarantees absolute transparency andinviolability in information management. Now, we must return to anineteenth-century system, completely anachronistic and permeable toany adulteration.”
AnotherASEA representative said that SMEs represent 44% of the country’sGDP, and the suspension of the platform would discourageentrepreneurship. ASEA added that the SAS platform was used as areference by neighboring countries, and was replicated by Ecuador,Uruguay, and Paraguay, among others.
TheArgentinian government has been supportive of blockchain, shown bythe establishment of the BFA Blockchain. Last year, it announced thatit would invest in 40blockchain projects overthe next four years with a partnership with BINANCE Labs.
Amongother projects, NEC Argentina, NGO Bitcoin Argentina, and IDB Lab areworking on a DigitalIdentity for Inclusion Project.The project is said to have been introduced in Buenos Aires toimprove access to government services.
