The government of Argentina has declared that it is suspending the national blockchain-powered mechanism to register new companies for a period of 180 days.

According to statements made by Ricardo Nissen to La Nación, who is the head of the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ), the measure attempts to reorder the listing of new companies so that the IGJ can engage in the complete process.

Back to the conventional way

During the halt period, which will begin as of the second week of March, listings of the Companies for Simplified Shares — identified in Spanish as SAS — should be done in the Argentine Public Registry solely on paper.

Under this digital system, approximately 20,000 companies were included in the country since it was executed in 2017.

On the fast-track device to list new companies, which enabled users to get through the process in 24 hours, contrasted to the 55 days that happened in the past, Nissen published the following remarks to El Cronista:

“There is no control. Macrismo thought that by enabling the constitution of companies in 24 hours, we would have a lot of investments. It was crazy.”

An archaic system: Association of Entrepreneurs of Argentina

The determination of the government of Alberto Fernández was not well supported by the Association of Entrepreneurs of Argentina (ASEA), who thought that the measure outlines a setback. A statement was issued to local media:

“Until today, accounting books were kept digitally through the Blockchain system, which guarantees absolute transparency and inviolability in information management. Now, we will have to return to a 19th-century system, completely anachronistic and permeable to any adulteration.”

Alejandro Ramírez, liable for public policies of the ASEA, stated that Argentina would, therefore, become the only nation in the world that goes from a digital system to the paper format, in phases of the formulation of new companies.

The online system, recognized as the “Simplified Stock Companies (SAS) digital service,” commenced working in 2017 under the command of the then-president, Mauricio Macri.