Countries › Paraguay › Guide › 10. Capital markets and finance › Payments, e money and fintech in Paraguay: the 2025 National Payment System law, payment providers designated by the BCP, tokenized securities and card fees

Payments, e money and fintech in Paraguay: the 2025 National Payment System law, payment providers designated by the BCP, tokenized securities and card fees

Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Changing

Ley 7503/2025, in force since June 2025, replaced the 2012 payments law and makes the Banco Central del Paraguay (BCP) regulator and supervisor of payment, custody and securities settlement systems and of the payment service providers it designates according to their importance in the payments ecosystem. The BCP can set registries, interoperability standards, tariff caps and structural separation where one group plays several roles, simple credit transfers through its system must be free for users, and serious faults draw fines of 20 to 50 percent of the operations or 101 to 5,000 minimum wages. Separately, Ley 7572/2025 treats instruments issued or held on distributed ledger technology as securities, and card merchant commissions are capped by the BCP under Ley 5476/2015.

USD figures use PYG 5,868.31 per US dollar, the Banco Central del Paraguay reference quotation for 28 October 2026. Fines tied to the minimum wage use PYG 3,044,000 per month and PYG 117,077 per daily jornal, in force from 1 July 2026 under Resolución MTESS Nº 670/2026. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Payments regulator	Banco Central del Paraguay Ley 7503/2025 art. 3, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Payment service providers subject to BCP regulation and registration	Yes, those designated by the BCP by importance in the payments ecosystem Ley 7503/2025 art. 4 and 5, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Fee on simple credit transfers through the BCP system	Free for users Ley 7503/2025 art. 31, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
BCP may require separation where one group plays several payment roles	Yes Ley 7503/2025 art. 4, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Minimum participants for a recognised payment system	3 Ley 7503/2025 art. 6, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Instruments issued or held on distributed ledgers can be securities	Yes Ley 7572/2025 art. 73, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Statutory regulatory sandbox	None in Ley 7503/2025 or Ley 7572/2025 Ley 7503/2025, as of 2026-10-28 · in force

The rule

1. Scope and BCP powers. Ley 7503/2025 regulates the Sistema Nacional de Pagos, the finality of clearing and settlement, the custody and settlement of securities and the collateral participants give each other. It applies to services and systems, and their administrators, participants and providers operating wholly or partly in Paraguay according to their importance in the payments ecosystem as determined by the BCP. The BCP sets principles and standards, regulates and supervises recognised systems, decides which payment service providers fall under its regulation and sanctions, defines roles and may require functional, organizational and accounting separation and a structural separation plan when one person or group plays several roles, creates registries, requires interoperability and interconnection, and may set concepts, tariffs or maximum tariffs within the system. Competition law Ley 4956/2013 continues to apply.
Cost to do it: Registration requirements and any tariff caps are set by BCP regulation and are not reproduced here.
Example: A wallet operator designated by the BCP for its size must register, meet its technical and security standards and may be required to interconnect with other providers. / A foreign payments company serving Paraguayan merchants falls within the law if it operates wholly or partly in Paraguay and the BCP designates it.Ley Nº 7503/2025 Sistema Nacional de Pagos, Art. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 32, 2025-06-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28 · changed: Ley 7503/2025, promulgated and published 27 June 2025, repealed Ley 4595/2012 on payment and securities settlement systems; regulations under the old law stay in force until replaced (art. 33 and 34).

2. Recognised systems, finality and protection in insolvency. A procedure or agreement can be recognised as a payment, custody or securities settlement system if it executes and settles transfer orders, has at least three participants and general rules approved by the BCP and published on the administrator's website. Accepted transfer orders, the resulting netting and settlement are final, binding and enforceable against third parties and cannot be annulled. Funds held in BCP accounts used for settlement cannot be attached. The opening of insolvency or resolution of a participant does not affect orders accepted before notice to the system, and administrators, settlement agents and the BCP have separation rights over collateral, which is not subject to clawback and can be sold to settle. Electronic acts have full legal and evidentiary validity, and electronic presentation of a cheque's essential data has the effect of presenting the physical cheque.
Cost to do it: No fee in the law.
Example: If a participating finance company is put into resolution, payments it sent and the system accepted earlier that day still settle. / Collateral of US$1 million posted to a settlement system can be sold to cover a failed participant's position without waiting for the insolvency process.Ley Nº 7503/2025 Sistema Nacional de Pagos, Art. 6 and 10 to 18, 2025-06-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

3. Free transfers, BCP infrastructure and sanctions. The BCP may run an electronic clearing and settlement system for payments above a regulatory minimum and a securities depository as a BCP body; simple credit transfers must be free for users, with no charge or commission. Serious faults include breaching BCP resolutions, operating without required recognition or registration, breaching governance or risk rules and giving false information. Legal persons face for serious faults public reprimand, a fine of 20 to 50 percent of the operations involved or of 101 to 5,000 monthly minimum wages, limits or suspension for up to five years, or revocation; for minor faults up to 100 minimum wages. Individuals face for serious faults 10 to 25 percent of the operations or 50 to 500 minimum wages and removal with a ban of up to ten years. Serious faults prescribe in five years and minor in one; facts may be admitted within ten business days.
Cost to do it: Fine for a serious fault by a legal person: PYG 307,444,000 (US$52,391) to PYG 15,220,000,000 (US$2.59 million), or 20 to 50 percent of the operations.
Example: A bank cannot charge a fee for a simple credit transfer made through the BCP's system (art. 31). / At July 2026 wages the fixed fine range for a provider is about US$52,390 to US$2.59 million.Ley Nº 7503/2025 Sistema Nacional de Pagos, Art. 23 to 31, 2025-06-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

4. Tokens, crowdfunding style offers and cards. Under Ley 7572/2025 securities include collective investment agreements in projects with an expectation of profit, negotiable rights used to raise funds from the public, and instruments issued, registered, transferred or stored with distributed ledger or similar technology; the BCP Board may widen or narrow the definition, and trading platforms for public offerings or registration of securities are supervised. Offering such instruments to the public without registration is a crime. Under Ley 5476/2015 the BCP regulates the maximum commissions card operators and issuers charge merchants, and card penalty charges need prior BCP approval.
Cost to do it: Registration as for any securities offering; merchant fee caps set by the BCP.
Example: A platform tokenizing shares of a Paraguayan real estate project for retail buyers is offering securities and needs registration and supervision. / A US$300,000 token raise from the public without registration risks prison of up to five years for its promoters.Ley Nº 7572/2025 Mercado de Valores y Productos; Ley Nº 5476/2015, Ley 7572/2025 art. 73, 214 and 321; Ley 5476/2015 art. 8 and 10, 2025-11-07 official text · verified 2026-10-28

Activity	Law	Supervisor
Payment systems, wallets, processors designated by the BCP	Ley 7503/2025	BCP
Deposit taking and lending	Ley 861/96	BCP Superintendencia de Bancos
Tokenized or crowdfunded investment offers	Ley 7572/2025	BCP Superintendencia de Valores
Card pricing and user rights	Ley 5476/2015	SEDECO, BCP and INCOOP
Credit bureaus	Ley 6534/2020	BCP

Which law applies

Worked example

A foreign wallet provider entering Paraguay: it checks whether the BCP has designated its kind of service under Ley 7503/2025 art. 4, registers and meets BCP technical and security standards if so, interconnects as required, and avoids taking deposits or lending, which would need a Ley 861/96 licence. If it later offers tokenized investment products to users, those are securities under Ley 7572/2025 art. 73.

Step by step

1. Map the service: payment processing, wallet, acquiring, lending, deposits or investment tokens.
2. Read the BCP resolutions designating supervised payment service providers under Ley 7503/2025.
3. Register and meet technical, security and governance standards; plan for interoperability requirements.
4. Keep any credit or deposit activity inside a licensed entity.
5. Treat any investment token offered to the public as a securities offering.

Common traps

Regulations issued under the repealed Ley 4595/2012 stay in force until replaced (Ley 7503/2025 art. 33), so check both sets.
The BCP may order structural separation of a group that is both issuer and processor (art. 4), which can affect bank owned payment businesses.
Fines can be a percentage of the operations involved, which for payment volumes can be large.
There is no statutory sandbox; innovation offers rely on the general rules.

Sources

← Insurance and reinsurance in Paraguay: licensing, US$500,000 capital per group, foreign branches, the ban on offshore cover and tax on premiums paid abroadCredit bureaus and financial consumer data in Paraguay: the credit data law, the five year limit, BCP licensed bureaus and the 2027 data protection law →

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