SINPE Móvil processed 745.5 million transactions in 2025. Those transfers moved ¢12.6 trillion over the year. The platform now exceeds 2 million transactions a day. The Banco Central de Costa Rica is designing a new version of the service built around QR codes.
SINPE Móvil is a retail payment service on the SINPE platform developed and managed by the Banco Central de Costa Rica. Diario Extra put the user base at 4 million. The service added 406,263 subscriptions between January and July 2026, La Nación reported.
Carlos Melegatti, the BCCR's director of payment systems, said the new version will definitely include a QR code. QR codes would identify the recipient of a transfer as an alternative to a typed phone number. Melegatti said many users find it cumbersome to type the phone number every time they pay. The central bank is also analysing the integration of contactless payment. Melegatti cited the payment systems already operating in India and Brazil as examples. He estimated the new version could be ready in a year and a half or at most two years. Diario Extra reported that the first pilot projects could begin in 2028. Melegatti said the system must be prepared to handle higher transactions per second as volumes grow.
Since 1 June 2026, SINPE Móvil transfers sent by SMS or WhatsApp carry a maximum daily cap of ₡100,000. Transfers from authenticated channels keep unchanged conditions with amounts of up to ₡500,000 a day. The adjustment stems from a reform to the Reglamento del Sistema Nacional de Pagos Electrónicos issued by the BCCR. The BCCR board took the decision in firm on 6 August 2025. The rule requires unauthenticated channels such as SMS to start with a predefined amount. El Financiero reported that text messages lack robust authentication such as biometric verification or tokens, which makes them more vulnerable to fraud.
Taxpayers who receive payments for goods or services through SINPE Móvil would soon have to register that phone number with the Ministerio de Hacienda, El Financiero reported on 25 June 2026. The change would be made through an addition to Article 22 of the Reglamento del Procedimiento Tributario. The tax authority said its control actions had found significant indications of evasion through SINPE Móvil. Already-registered taxpayers would have a maximum of 12 months to register the numbers linked to electronic payment methods. The tax administration would have up to two months after the decree enters into force to adjust its forms and systems.
The QR-based redesign appears to have no firm launch date beyond Melegatti's estimate of 18 to 24 months. The most likely near-term checkpoints are the tax decree's entry into force and the 12-month registration window that follows it.