Fintech & digital payments rules in Armenia (2026)

The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Armenia disclosed that a comprehensive new Law on Payment Services is in development, benchmarked against PSD2/PSD3 and targeting instant payments, open banking, and real-time settlement. It would replace the 2004 foundational law and overhaul the licensing taxonomy for payment organisations.

The Central Bank of Armenia's inaugural regulatory package for crypto-asset service providers, published on 21 January 2026, became effective. It requires CBA registration and licensing before any of 10 defined crypto-asset services may be offered; existing operators have a transitional period until 31 January 2027 to obtain licences.

Armenia's landmark Crypto-Asset Law, adopted by the National Assembly on 29 May 2025, entered into force. The MiCA-inspired statute places the CBA as sole licensing authority over custody, trading platforms, order transmission, portfolio management, and asset-referenced token issuance, amending both the Civil Code and Tax Code to treat crypto-assets as a distinct regulated asset class.

The Central Bank of Armenia became a member of GFIN, gaining access to cross-border sandbox pilot projects and the regulatory experience of leading global authorities. Membership accelerates CBA's open-banking, digital-identity, and CBDC pilot agenda.

The Central Bank published its three-year strategic roadmap prioritising payment-system modernisation, universal QR, instant payments, strong authentication, and data interoperability. The strategy formalised a technology-neutral regulatory philosophy and set out planned CBDC pilots for the following 12–24 months.

Armenia's parliament enacted restrictions requiring all transactions above AMD 300,000 (~$720) to be settled electronically, phased geographically from Yerevan (2022) to provincial towns (2023) and nationwide (2024). Zero cash thresholds applied immediately to government receipts, healthcare, education, and legal services to improve tax compliance and reduce illicit finance.

The Armenian government launched e-payments.am, enabling citizens to pay taxes, state duties, and over 1,500 government fees electronically via ArCa and MasterCard. Concurrently, the CBA issued Idram its first formal permission to issue electronic money, establishing the first regulated e-money institution in the country.

Idram was launched as an internet payment system enabling online bill payments, peer-to-peer transfers, and merchant settlements. It became the dominant retail digital payments platform in Armenia and the benchmark against which later regulatory frameworks for e-money institutions were shaped.

Armenia's foundational payment regulation created the legal basis for payment and settlement systems (PSSs) and organisations (PSOs), established CBA licensing authority over all PSOs, introduced settlement-finality protections, and set the supervisory framework still underpinning the sector today.

The Central Bank of Armenia and ten commercial banks, with USAID support, established ArCa as the country's domestic interbank card payment scheme. ArCa holds Licence No. 1 for payment-card processing and clearing and became the backbone of card acceptance infrastructure; 19 of 21 Armenian banks currently participate.