Montevideo recently hosted the 11th edition of the P2P Financial Systems (P2PFISY) workshop, an international event that brings together regulators, academics, and innovators in financial technology. The meeting was supported by the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU), the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences (FCEA) at the University of the Republic, and the Exponential Science Foundation.
Julio Sanguinetti, director of the BCU, opened the event by highlighting its importance for Uruguay: “For a small country like ours, it is essential to have these workspaces, to discuss freely and to put ourselves at the forefront of knowledge.” Interim dean Carlos Bianchi from FCEA added, “This event is a milestone because it crosses financial innovation with science and entrepreneurship capabilities.”
Paolo Tasca, co-founder of the Exponential Science Foundation and creator of P2PFISY, explained why Uruguay was selected as host. He pointed to Uruguay’s stability, institutional framework, and digital inclusion progress. “Uruguay is the ideal host for this year’s edition of P2PFISY,” Tasca said. “Not only because of its progressive agenda in digital finance, but also because of the active commitment of the Central Bank and the FCEA to building inclusive and forward-looking monetary policies.” Tasca described Uruguay as “a stable economy with low inflation and a suitable size to serve as a testbed. Here, the public and private sectors can work together to launch new models that can then be scaled up across the region.”
Tasca also referenced key milestones such as Uruguay’s 2014 Financial Inclusion Law promoting payment digitization for households; improvement in digital government ranking from 35th to 25th place in 2024 according to United Nations data; and implementation of Toke fast payment system in September 2024—registering over nine million instant interbank transfers in six months.
“Uruguay is not trying to catch up; it is setting the pace,” said Tasca. He emphasized that these achievements are necessary for secure and inclusive digital finance expansion. Tasca stated further: “Infrastructure is not optional; it is sovereignty. Countries that build robust and transparent systems will not only provide a service, they will be defining their monetary power in the 21st century.”
The workshop included presentations from academics worldwide. Two Uruguayan research projects received special recognition: one on artificial intelligence-based credit scoring models by Noelia de los Santos and Joaquín Rubio (awarded first prize), and another on tax challenges related to tokenizing natural resources by Melisa Ronchi, Flavia Fernández, and Ana Laura Calleja.
Panel discussions addressed central bank digital currencies, open finance initiatives, and monetary sovereignty issues in Latin America. A lecture by Diego Tognazzolo examined local fiscal challenges linked to virtual assets.
Patricia Tudisco from BCU discussed recent regulatory developments regarding crypto assets. She described how since 2021 BCU has analyzed virtual asset impacts on financial stability—leading to Law 20,345 in September 2024 granting regulatory powers over virtual asset service providers (VASPs). “We started with warnings to the public (…), and then we realized that the Bank did not have sufficient powers, so we went for the law,” Tudisco recalled.
In August 2025 BCU released draft regulations addressing capital requirements for VASPs. Tudisco announced a proposed legal adjustment sent to Uruguay’s Ministry of Economy aiming to regulate all VASPs equally: “The board sent the Ministry of Economy a legal adjustment so that all VASP would be regulated, without segmentation by object.” If approved this would enable comprehensive oversight including application of travel rules for all transfers—aligning with international standards such as those outlined by FATF—and bringing stablecoin issuers under supervision.
Both Tasca and Tudisco stressed Uruguay’s commitment to providing regulatory certainty while seeking leadership within regional financial architecture development. As summarized by Tasca: “When investing, you look for a clear legal framework and stability. Uruguay is on the right track.”
