BIND and Petersen-backed initiatives are targeting institutional treasury, payments and collateralized credit use cases while operating through subsidiaries rather than private banks.
Two Argentine banking-backed groups are developing peso-pegged stablecoins aimed at institutions, as local firms push beyond the market’s heavy reliance on dollar-linked tokens such as USDC and USDT. Iproup reported that BIND Group and Petersen Group are each advancing digital peso projects designed to offer programmable money, with intended uses including treasury management, payments triggered by onchain events and collateralized credit operations. BIND Group, which has more than $2 billion in assets under management and owns BIND Banco Industrial, is developing its project through BEN, its in-house virtual asset service provider (VASP, crypto services firm). The group also announced a partnership with Circle to give BEN customers institutional access for payments and treasury use cases in compliance with local regulations. Petersen Group is pursuing a separate initiative through a subsidiary supported by Lirium, the crypto-as-a-service provider used by Banco Galicia and Brubank. That product, called DIPE, is described as already mature and has its own whitepaper. The structure of both projects reflects a regulatory workaround. The Argentine Central Bank has barred private banks from offering crypto-related services to customers since May 2022, so the stablecoin efforts are being led by subsidiaries and affiliated companies rather than the banks themselves. The report said backing from banking conglomerates could help these peso stablecoins scale if the restriction is eventually lifted, although regulatory risk remains after the national securities regulator in March said the argt peso stablecoin was a security offered without due compliance.