Crypto, MEP, and blue dollars in Argentina, compared

Four routes to the dollar

The rates differ because the routes differ. Each has its own rules, hours, costs, and risks, and at the end of each you hold something different: a bank deposit, dollars in a brokerage account, a token, or banknotes. Comparing only the price on a screen misses most of what matters.

The official dollar at your bank

Since April 14, 2025, under Communication A 8226 from Argentina’s central bank, banks may sell foreign currency to resident individuals for holding or deposit without the central bank’s prior approval. The purchase must be debited from your account, or paid in cash up to US$100 a month. The dollars are delivered as banknotes or credited to a foreign-currency account in your name.

The bank must also obtain evidence that your income or assets are consistent with saving in foreign currency. These rules have been adjusted since, so check your bank’s current conditions. The official route suits people who already have a bank account: the dollars sit in a regulated bank, and the bank’s exchange spread is the main cost.

What is the MEP dollar?

The MEP dollar, also called the stock-market dollar, is the result of buying a bond with pesos and selling the same bond for dollars through a brokerage account. Some Argentine government bonds trade in both currencies, and the ratio between the two prices is the MEP rate. The dollars arrive in your brokerage or bank account.

It is a legal, regulated route through the securities market. It needs a brokerage account (cuenta comitente). The rules on how long you must hold the bond before selling, and on combining MEP with official purchases, have changed several times. Costs include brokerage commissions and the spread between the bond’s buying and selling prices.

What exactly is the crypto dollar?

When you buy crypto dollars, you buy a stablecoin: a token issued by a company that aims to keep it worth one US dollar. The two most used are USDT, issued by Tether, and USDC, issued by Circle. Both publish information about their reserves; Circle’s transparency page and Tether’s describe what backs each token.

The price comes from supply and demand on each platform and moves around the clock, including weekends and holidays. In Argentina, platforms that exchange crypto-assets for pesos must register with the CNV, the securities regulator, as virtual asset service providers. Registration is a requirement, not a guarantee.

What you hold is a token, not a bank deposit, and no deposit-insurance scheme covers it. You rely on the issuer, on the platform or wallet where you keep it, and on being able to sell when you need pesos. If you leave the token on a platform, the platform controls it; in a self-custodial account, you do.

The blue dollar, and the four routes side by side

The blue dollar is the price of cash dollars on the informal market, outside banks and regulated platforms. It has no official quote, no receipt, and no protection if the notes are counterfeit or the deal goes wrong, and carrying cash to a meeting adds the risk of theft. With legal routes open to most people, the informal one is hard to justify. The table describes how the routes work; it is not a ranking.

From pesos to digital dollars in Lex

Lex offers an Argentine peso route. When it is available for your account, Lex asks for a one-time identity check with its provider and shows a CVU to transfer pesos to from your bank or virtual wallet. The pesos arrive as wARS, a token issued by Ripio that tracks the Argentine peso and whose issuer publishes reserve attestations.

Converting wARS to US Dollar, which is how Lex shows USDC, is a separate step with its own quote. Lex charges no fee for the conversion; the quote includes the pool fee and price impact, and shows the minimum you will receive before you approve. The price comes from an on-chain market, so it can differ from the crypto-dollar rate quoted elsewhere.

Your balance stays in a self-custodial account: transactions need your approval with a passkey, and Lex cannot move your money on its own. To return to pesos, convert back to wARS and withdraw to an Argentine account in your own name when that route is offered. The app shows fees, limits, and timing for your account before you confirm.

An example: saving a bonus for six months

Illustrative example. Sofía, a designer in Rosario, receives a bonus in pesos and wants it in dollars until she travels in six months. She already has a bank account. On the same afternoon she checks each route and writes down how many dollars each would leave her with for the same amount of pesos.

She then checks the way back, because she may spend part of the money in Argentina before the trip. A route that gives her 1% more dollars today but costs 2% to reverse is the worse deal for her. She also notes the hours: her bank works on business days, while the stablecoin route also works on weekends.

Sofía splits the money. Part goes to dollars in her bank account, for simplicity; part goes to USDC, which she wants to hold herself and can move at any hour. She keeps every receipt for her tax records. The rate on the news was never her rate. Her rate was what each complete route actually delivered.