Debit card payments in dollars are now available: which wallets can be used?

Starting this Friday, the financial system must press the "on button" on the payment infrastructure that will allow merchants to charge debit cards in dollars. With some doubts, the industry is working to meet this deadline imposed by the Central Bank last month, although they warn that bimonetary payments may take time to become established as an alternative for Argentines.

This new option, which will mark the beginning of the currency competition, so promoted by Milei's Government , also seems to be new ground for the old battle between banks and fintech, such as Mercado Pago. The fact is that, a priori, the Central Bank's regulations that govern how payments in dollars will be made with debit cards, leave out virtual wallets . The rule applies to dollars stored in bank accounts identified with a CBU , so virtual wallet accounts, linked to a Uniform Virtual Key (CVU) are not contemplated.

Only virtual wallets associated with banks, such as Naranja X or Ualá, will be able to make their accounts available to their clients so that they can pay in dollars in stores, if they so wish. NaranjaX has already notified its clients that it has enabled payments in dollars for Visa debit card holders. To do this, the company from Córdoba uses as a backup the banking license it obtained in 2021.

“In this way, holders of the Naranja X Visa debit card will not have to convert dollars to pesos when they want to make a transaction in that currency in the country . We know that businesses will add bimonetarism as a means of payment for those who have savings or income in dollars,” explains Sofía Arrobas, Chief Business Development Officer of Naranja X.

A similar strategy will be used by Ualá, which also offers bank savings accounts after the incorporation of the digital bank Uilo into its ecosystem. "Thanks to the fact that Ualá acquired a banking license, it can offer a completely free Dollar Savings Account. The demand was such that, less than 4 months after its launch, more than 300 thousand people have opened an account," explained company sources and detailed: "In addition, within the same application you can access the purchase of MEP Dollars, a product that has been available since 2021."

MODO, acting as a "bank wallet" , will also be able to offer its users the possibility of paying with dollar accounts from associated entities.

The "greatly excluded" from this new scenario is Mercado Pago. Marcos Galperín's fintech had promoted the creation of the "CVU in dollars" in the second half of the year, a special type of account that would be key in a bimonetary economy. After months of negotiations with the Central Bank, this option has not yet been regulated by the agency. "We are in dialogue with the BCRA to work on the incorporation of payment accounts in dollars in this regulation," they said at Mercado Pago.

"We believe that the possibility of creating payment accounts in dollars is essential for this to work. We discussed it with the BCRA, which is still studying the issue and has some doubts about how to implement it, but we trust that they will reach a good solution as soon as possible. In these matters, time is very important, we hope that this is among the BCRA's priorities," they assured.

In addition to the millions of users who use the app to pay, Mercado Pago concentrates a good part of the business of "acquiring" payments in stores. From that side, the company acknowledged that they are still working to have "everything ready" as of this Friday.

On the contrary, its main competitors in this business, such as Prisma and Firserv, assure that they will meet the date proposed by the Central Bank without delays. Juan Ignacio de la Torre, SVP & General Manager of Fiserv for South Latin America, confirmed that this option has been available within its collection systems since mid-month: "We made transactions with Visa issuers in friendly stores and the operation was successful," he said.

"Any business that wants to register its operations in dollars can contact our customer service centers, call center, email or contact account and, by simply providing us with the information of its special US$ account at its paying institution, it will have the possibility of operating in dollars under the same conditions as with pesos," he explained.