DAOs in the Argentine bill: what the chapter proposes, topic by topic
The same bill that creates the automated company regulates decentralized autonomous organizations as a company type for the first time. Here is what it says — article by article, translated from the file's text — what critics object to, and what exists in the meantime.
Short answer: the bill for a new General Companies Law (file PE-193/26, in Senate committee) brings DAOs — 'Sociedad Descentralizada Autónoma Operativa', decentralized autonomous operating company — in as a company type of their own, distinct from the automated company: a company structured 'in a wholly or partially autonomous and decentralized manner' under the rules of its protocol, with interests that may be represented by tokens and transferred 'by registration on the network', and with legal representation vested in one or more natural persons (arts. 258, 259 and 260). None of it is law yet: no committee vote as of 17 Sep 2026.
Where it sits and what it defines
DAOs occupy Section V of Chapter II of the bill, articles 258 to 265 (folios 102 to 104 of the file; Section VI, 'State oversight', starts at art. 266), as a new type, not as a quality of another type (unlike the automated company, which is a quality an S.A., S.R.L. or S.A.S. may adopt). Article 258 ('Characterization and incorporation') carries the whole chapter; our translation from folio 102:
- The type: 'The Decentralized Autonomous Operating Company (DAO) is a company type with the scope and characteristics provided in this Section. The provisions of Section IV of this Chapter shall apply on a supplementary basis, in the first place, and subsidiarily those of Chapter I, in both cases only insofar as they are reconcilable with the type.' Its name 'must include the expression "Sociedad Descentralizada Autónoma Operativa" or the acronym "DAO"'.
- The regime: 'They are structured in a wholly or partially autonomous and decentralized manner, according to the rules of governance, operation, decision-making and distribution of profits provided in their incorporation instrument or in their protocol.'
- The protocol: 'For the purposes of this Section, protocol means the set of technical and governance rules that determine its operation, whatever the technology or medium used to implement it.' The technology neutrality is deliberate: it does not say 'blockchain' or 'smart contract'; it says protocol.
- What is not a DAO: 'A company that uses technology for merely instrumental, record-keeping or administrative purposes, without it being an essential part of its organization or governance, does not constitute a Decentralized Autonomous Operating Company (DAO).' Non-profit DAOs are governed by the Section 'insofar as compatible, with the adaptations provided in the regulations'.
What it proposes, topic by topic
| Topic | What the original text says (art., folio; our translation) | What changes versus today |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership interests | 'May be represented by certificates, tokens or cryptographic tokens created on distributed ledger networks or other technology. Interests may have no par value.' (art. 259, folio 102) | Today quotas and shares are instruments or corporate registrations; a token is not an ownership interest. |
| Transfers | 'Acquired or transferred by registration on the network or technological system declared by the company, save for restrictions provided in the incorporation instrument or the protocol, with no need for additional formal notice. The transfer is enforceable against third parties from its registration, provided the system guarantees traceability as set out in article 261.' (art. 259, folio 102) | Today quota transfers require an instrument and notice to the company (art. 152, Law 19,550); shares, an entry in the share register (art. 215). |
| Governance | The rules 'of governance, operation, decision-making and distribution of profits' are those 'provided in their incorporation instrument or in their protocol'. (art. 258, folio 102) | Today governance belongs to the corporate bodies (members' meeting, management) of each type. |
| Legal representation | 'Must be vested in ONE (1) or more natural persons. The representatives act towards third parties and bind the Decentralized Autonomous Company (DAO) in all acts requiring human intervention. Their appointment, removal and replacement must be registered with the Public Registry.' (art. 260, folio 102). Since 19 Aug 2026 the ruling bloc has also announced an identified human responsible for DAOs and automated companies (announced, no text filed). | Same as today in practice: no Argentine legal entity acts without a human representative. |
| Member identification | The incorporation instrument must set out 'the mechanism by which the protocol guarantees that only previously identified members, in accordance with the applicable due-diligence standards, may acquire or transfer interests. The system must at all times maintain the link between each interest and the identity of its holder. Failure to meet this condition is grounds for denial or cancellation of registration.' (art. 261 para. 7, folio 103). If a DAO must register with the anti-money-laundering agency (UIF), 'one of its legal representatives must be appointed compliance officer', and it must provide 'the technical mechanisms' to identify beneficial owners. (art. 264, folio 104) | New: owner traceability stops being a promise of the protocol and becomes a condition of registration. |
| Liability | The DAO 'is liable with its assets for the obligations and damage caused in the course of its activity, including those executed automatically by the protocol'. The promoter 'is liable unlimitedly and jointly and severally for the obligations contracted for the incorporation and registration of the company' until registration. (art. 262, folio 103; detail in the liability guide) | Today a DAO without legal personality is not liable as a subject: its members are. |
| Books and records | 'Any digital record replaces any equivalent physical medium, provided its information is publicly verifiable, can be reproduced in legible form and allows its financial position to be reconstructed at any later time.' The executive will regulate 'the minimum traceability and preservation standards'. (art. 263, folio 103) | Today art. 61 of Law 19,550 allows replacing books with digital media only with Public Registry authorization; the S.A.S. already keeps digital registers (Law 27,349). |
| Dissolution | Specific events: '(a) The supervening and irreversible technical impossibility of executing the main protocol. (b) The definitive loss of access to the protocol or smart contract for a cause not attributable to the members. (c) A change to the protocol that removes or undermines the member-identification mechanisms required by this Section […]. (d) Any other event provided in the incorporation instrument or the protocol.' (art. 265, folio 104) | New: acknowledges that a failure of the code can be the end of the company. |
| Insolvency | Section V contains no reference of its own to Bankruptcy Law 24,522: neither that law nor the word 'insolvency' appears in arts. 258-265, and Law 24,522 is not named anywhere in the file's 107 folios; the Message (folio 14) only says, for all companies, that they 'shall remain subject to […] insolvency legislation'. Earlier analyses (UNLP, SIAP) described a reference with adaptations; the original text leaves it to the general regime, with member and beneficial-owner identification in arts. 261 and 264. | Today a DAO without legal personality cannot file; its members answer according to the wrapper they use. |
Source of the quotations: original text of Senate file PE-193/26 (Message 187/2026; scanned 107-folio PDF with no text layer), arts. 258 to 265, our translation from folios 102, 103 and 104 on 17 Sep 2026. Placement of the chapter per that same text (Section VI starts at art. 266, folio 104). Until 16 Sep 2026 this page reproduced the translation in the Bruchou & Funes summary and, following the Law School, Universidad Nacional de La Plata and SIAP, extended the chapter to art. 269; corrected against the articles. Human responsible: La Nación, 19 Aug 2026. The articles of Laws 19,550 and 27,349 cited in the 'today' column are law in force.
DAO vs. automated company: not the same thing
The confusion is constant in press coverage and worth settling: the DAO automates governance (who decides and how ownership is recorded: protocol and tokens); the automated company automates operations (AI agents run the business purpose without employees). One is a new company type; the other, a quality of existing types. Both require human responsibles after the 19 August change. The six-vehicle table — including the Wyoming, Tennessee and Utah DAO laws — is in the comparison.
What experts criticize
The central objection is not technological but about traceability. In Chequeado's explainer (5 Jun 2026), lawyer and UBA lecturer Pablo Serdán notes that identifying owners is precisely what these structures are designed to avoid, recalling Wyoming's experience (2021) and Malta's, which ended on the FATF grey list. Santiago Siri (DemocracyOS) agrees that identifying beneficial owners will be hard despite the transparency promises. In the August hearings, former IGJ head Ricardo Nissen and prosecutor Gabriela Boquín questioned the bill as a whole; the head of the UIF, Matías Álvarez, and Satellogic CEO Emiliano Kargieman spoke in favor (Pregón, 12 Aug 2026). The answer already written in the original text is art. 261 para. 7 (only 'previously identified members' may acquire or transfer interests, on pain of cancelled registration) and art. 264 (a compliance officer before the UIF); the answer announced on 19 August and not yet written is the mandatory human responsible: the identifiable person the anti-money-laundering agency, a judge or a creditor can address.
What exists today, while the bill is not law
- A DAO can operate in fact: a protocol with tokens and on-chain votes is not prohibited. What it lacks is legal personality and limited liability: towards third parties its members are a de facto or simple company (Section IV of Law 19,550), with liability that can reach personal assets.
- The traditional wrapper: a civil association, a trust, or an S.A.S. whose bylaws mirror the protocol's decisions. It is the current practice of projects that need to contract, invoice or open accounts — and the alternative legal scholars point to if the DAO type ends up as dead letter.
- Draft for conversion: if your project will want to be a DAO once the law exists, document the protocol (art. 261 asks for 'the public address of the contract and the hash of its deployment'), who the human representative is, how each holder of interests is identified, and how what happens on-chain is reflected in the books. Those are exactly the points the bill will ask for.
Where the bill stands
Senate General Legislation Committee, no committee vote as of 17 Sep 2026; the committee agenda for the weeks of 14, 21 and 28 September does not list the file. The latest milestone is the 11 Sep 2026 letter from more than 30 organizations to the committee chair, asking to strike this Section V and to call a public hearing. The full timeline, with sources, is in the tracker; the DAO chapter moves with the rest of the bill, not separately.
Verified 17 Sep 2026 against the file's original text. General information, not legal advice: the enacted text may differ from the bill, and IGJ and provincial registry regulations will define how a DAO is registered. Consult licensed counsel for your case.
Frequently asked questions
What is a DAO under Argentina's General Companies Law bill?
A company type of its own, which the bill calls 'Sociedad Descentralizada Autónoma Operativa (DAO)' — decentralized autonomous operating company. Article 258 says it 'is a company type with the scope and characteristics provided in this Section' and that these companies 'are structured in a wholly or partially autonomous and decentralized manner, according to the rules of governance, operation, decision-making and distribution of profits provided in their incorporation instrument or in their protocol'. The protocol is 'the set of technical and governance rules that determine its operation, whatever the technology or medium used to implement it'. It sits in Section V of Chapter II of the bill (articles 258 to 265, folios 102-104 of file PE-193/26; our translation), separate from the automated company.
Can you incorporate a DAO in Argentina today?
Not as a company type: the figure is part of bill PE-193/26, in Senate committee with no committee vote yet. Today an Argentine DAO exists in fact (a protocol with tokens and on-chain votes) and, when it needs legal personality, uses a traditional wrapper: a civil association, an S.A.S. or a trust. Our tracker tells you when that changes.
Are the ownership interests tokens?
They may be. Article 259 of the bill says interests 'may be represented by certificates, tokens or cryptographic tokens created on distributed ledger networks or other technology' and 'may have no par value'. They 'are acquired or transferred by registration on the network or technological system declared by the company, save for restrictions provided in the incorporation instrument or the protocol, with no need for additional formal notice'. It is the biggest change versus current law, where transferring quotas or shares requires instruments and notice to the company.
Can a DAO have no humans at all?
No. Article 260 of the original text says 'legal representation must be vested in ONE (1) or more natural persons', who 'act towards third parties and bind the Decentralized Autonomous Company (DAO) in all acts requiring human intervention', and whose appointment 'must be registered with the Public Registry'. In addition, on 19 August 2026 the ruling bloc announced that both automated companies and DAOs must have at least one identified human responsible (an announcement, not filed text). The protocol may govern; someone with a name signs and answers.
How is a DAO different from an automated company?
In what gets automated. The DAO automates governance — how owners decide and how ownership is recorded, via protocol and tokens; the automated company automates operations — AI agents run the business purpose without employees. One company could in theory be both, but they are separate chapters with separate requirements.
What happens if the protocol stops working or the DAO becomes insolvent?
Article 265 of the bill sets specific dissolution events: 'the supervening and irreversible technical impossibility of executing the main protocol', 'the definitive loss of access to the protocol or smart contract for a cause not attributable to the members', a change to the protocol that removes the member-identification mechanisms, and any other event provided in the incorporation instrument or the protocol. On insolvency, Section V contains no reference of its own to Bankruptcy Law 24,522 (which is not named anywhere in the file): the DAO 'is liable with its assets' (art. 262) and would fall under the general insolvency regime like any legal entity; identifying members and beneficial owners is required by arts. 261 and 264, not by a special insolvency rule.
Is Argentina copying the Wyoming, Tennessee or Utah DAO laws?
It resembles them in purpose (on-chain governance with legal personality), not in technique: in the US they are LLC variants (Wyoming 2021, Tennessee 2022) or a new entity (Utah's LLD, 2024) under state corporate law; the Argentine bill creates a type inside the national companies statute. The side-by-side table is in our comparison.
Get told when an Argentine DAO can be incorporated
One email at the committee vote, one at enactment, and the definitive one when registries accept the first filing.