Brazil central bank tightens rules for virtual assets, cryptocurrency

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's cardinal slope connected Monday released long-awaited rules for trading virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, that ​will widen existing rules against wealth laundering and coercion financing to virtual-‌asset work providers.

Latin America's largest system approved a ineligible model for cryptocurrencies successful 2022, but ‌its rollout hinged connected complementary regularisation from the cardinal bank, which aboriginal held 4 nationalist consultations connected the matter.

Meanwhile, crypto usage has surged, prompting cardinal slope politician Gabriel Galipolo to rise concerns implicit the increasing usage of stablecoins, pegged to ⁠real-world assets similar the ‌U.S. dollar, often linked to illicit activity.

"New rules volition trim the scope for scams, fraud, and the ‍use of virtual plus markets for wealth laundering," the cardinal bank's manager of regularisation Gilneu Vivan said astatine a property conference.

NEW RULES TO COME INTO EFFECT IN FEBRUARY

Effective February,​ the regulations volition screen authorization processes for foreign-exchange and securities brokers, ‌distributors, and virtual-asset work providers, according to a connection connected the cardinal bank's website.

Policymakers person said that stablecoins, which are little volatile than cryptocurrencies specified arsenic bitcoin, are utilized much for payments than investments, with galore users seeking to bypass much heavy supervised and taxed accepted outgo systems.

Under the caller ⁠rules, immoderate purchase, merchantability oregon speech of ​virtual assets pegged to fiat currency volition beryllium ​considered a overseas speech operation.

The aforesaid classification applies to planetary payments oregon transfers utilizing virtual assets, including those made to settee obligations ‍via cards oregon different ⁠electronic outgo methods.

The regularisation besides extends existing rules connected lawsuit protection, transparency, anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing to virtual-asset work providers,⁠ the cardinal slope said.

It added that the model includes governance and information requirements, interior controls, ‌reporting duties and different compliance obligations.

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; ‌Editing by Toby Chopra and Conor Humphries)