Brazil advances acceptance of cryptocurrency as currency

While not considered legal tender, crypto earns a spot in the consumer market

The Brazilian government finally chose the entity that will regulate the cryptocurrency industry, the Central Bank of Brazil. A decree signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva certified the validity of the law that will regulate the crypto market and the regulatory entity. The law takes effect as of June 20.

The signature of President Lula, along with that of Brazilian Minister of Economy Fernando Haddad and the President of the Central Bank of Brazil, Roberto Campos Neto, certified the implementation of Ordinary Law number 14,478. This legislation establishes a regulation for the market and the cryptocurrency service providers, along with creating the ecosystem’s regulator.

In December 2022, the law was signed by then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro before he left office. This validated the regulation, leaving the entity that was finally defined in legal terms by the federal government, as decreed in the law, would be in charge of regulating the cryptocurrency industry.

The Central Bank of Brazil will become the de facto regulator of cryptocurrencies in the country in terms of the provision of services, licenses and approvals to operate. It will be in charge of the supervision, compliance and establishment of rules for cryptocurrency companies.

For its part, the decree establishes that the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission will be in charge of all the regulation related to virtual assets subject to regulation as securities.

In comments made to Portal do Bitcoin, different cryptocurrency companies with operations in Brazil, such as Mercado Bitcoin, Binance or Bitso, showed their support for the appointment of the Central Bank as the regulator for the industry. However, they mentioned the expectation regarding the rules that the entity will apply to the sector.