🇧🇷 Brazil Crypto Report #25: Feliz Natal Edition 🎄
👋 Olá pessoal and welcome to 🇧🇷 Brazil Crypto Report for the week of December 20-24, 2021.
I hope everyone is having a restful finish to 2021 and have had ample time to spend with family and friends during this Christmas and holiday season.
Apologies for the late release of this issue - my Brazilian in-laws are staying at my house so I haven’t had much free time to sit down and write. I’ll be sending out another light edition at the end of this week before we get back into full swing in the new year.
There are some exciting developments in the works for this publication in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and special thanks to the readers and subscribers who’ve supported this project since launch six months ago.
If you aren’t up to speed on the Eth:Rio event taking place March 14-17 you can jump in the Telegram group here.
Até mais,
Aaron
🙏 Special thanks to Celo Community Fund for supporting Brazil Crypto Report!
If you’re new here, the meta-thesis for this publication is that Brazil - with a population of 214 million and a US$1.8tn economy - is the most overlooked crypto market in the world. The objective is to highlight the important news and provide useful context for the English-speaking audience.
💣 Trending Cryptos in Brazil
New feature alert! Each week we’ll highlight in this section the top 10 trending cryptocurrencies in Brazil, using data from CoinGecko. None other than 💣 Bomber Coin takes the crown this week, followed by a number of ‘GameFi’ tokens.🗞Brazil
Crypto News Rundown 🗞
📈 Markets
Hashdex’s 100 Nasdaq Crypto Index fund generated a 160% return in 2021 and was named among the best options for investors by Ativa Investments, one of Brazil’s largest traditional investment brokers. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Brasil Bitcoin announced the launch of an OTC trading desk focusing on large volumes of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Cardano, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Brazilian investors didn’t take much interest in the bitcoin futures ETFs approved in the United States this fall, at least when compared to other traditional investment products available abroad, per a new study from Stake. Investments like the UVXY ETF and IAU fund, both of which seek to provide safe havens in times of volatility, saw increased popularity, as did ETFs focusing on other emerging sectors like cannabis and ‘meme stocks’ like Gamestop. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
🚀Adoption
Brazilian law offices are increasingly accepting payment for legal fees in cryptocurrencies, according to a report in Valor Economico. Among these firms is Viseu Advogados, which is accepting such payments through a partnership with Foxbit - clients pay in crypto to Foxbit, the broker then converts and pays the law firm in reals.
Glenn Greenwald, the American journalist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, defended bitcoin in a tweet criticizing American politicians Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Cruzeiro Sport Club went live with the presale for its fan token $CRZ via the platform Footoken. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Brasilia-based football club GAMA is launching a fan token called Gama Utility Token, or $GAMAO on Binance Smart Chain. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Foxbit announced the launch of its asset tokenization platform, Foxbit Token. It will facilitate the tokenization and trading of real-world assets like securities, commodities (soy, cattle), real estate and works of art. Ricardo Dantas, co-CEO of Foxbit, commented:
“We realized in the market that several business sectors and companies are already tokenizing their assets to capitalize more money for investments. Foxbit Token will enable the final public to also see in these assets a great opportunity for profitability, often with returns higher than fixed income.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Porto Alegre-based Sport Club Internacional announced the launch of its fan token, $SACI, via a partnership with Socios.com. Inter joins other prominent Brazilian football clubs like Flamengo, Corinthians and Sao Paulo Football Club that have launched fan tokens this year. Details on the launch are forthcoming. (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (Globo Esporte)
Colorado, tua voz será ouvida. Tua paixão, reconhecida. E nada vai nos separar. O Clube do Povo se une à família Socios.com. Seja bem-vindo, @SCInternacional! $SACI ⚡ $CHZ
🎮 NFTs, Gaming and Metaverse
Zro Bank announced the launch of a virtual office in the metaverse. For now, the initiative will be restricted to the Brazilian digital bank’s employees - who will be able to access the company’s new virtual office via their avatars.(CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Art marketplace Tropix.io introduced Pixway, a tokenization tool for registering assets like NFTs to the blockchain. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Fresh off its Brazil Cup championship, Atlético Mineiro is launching an NFT collection in conjunction with Crypto.com and Betano, an online game operator Betano that serves as the club’s master sponsor. The NFTs will come in free different tiers and grant access to various real life experiences such as visits to the club’s training facility known as “Rooster City”, front-row game tickets and the chance to play with the Belo Horizonte- based club’s players. Atletico Mineiro also launched its $GALO fan token in in August via the Socios platform. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
🏛 Public Policy and Enforcement
Grupo Itapemirim, owner of the ITA Linhas Aéreas airline that surprised passengers and suspended operations in December, is being accused of operating cryptocurrency “pump and dump” scheme. The company canceled all flights and left thousands of customers stranded at the end of the year, prompting nationwide outrage. Federal Police opened an opened an inquiry into consumer complaints and the alleged cryptocurrency business run by Itapemirim owner Sidnei Piva de Jesus. Investors accuse Jesus of blocking withdrawals of about R$400,000 invested in CrypTour cryptocurrencies, a digital currency launched in July this year by the transport group. Itapemirim has denied wrongdoing and is asserting that it itself is a victim in the scheme. (CoinTelegraph Brasil / Veja) (Portal do Bitcoin)
A trademark petition filed in Brazil by the then Facebook-led Libra Association in 2019 was denied by INPI, Brazil’s intellectual property authority, on the grounds that it was duplicative of another registered trademark. (Livecoins)
The Receita Federal, Brazil’s tax authority, issued new crypto tax guidance stipulating that transactions between cryptocurrencies would be subject to capital gains taxes in the same way as crypto to fiat transactions. (Portal do Bitcoin) (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Marcelo Barbosa, president of CVM - Brazil securities regulator, will meet with representatives from ANBIMA, a trade body representing Brazilian capital markets, in early 2022 to discuss cryptocurrency regulation. (Livecoins)
A São Paulo court has ordered the blocking of R$100,000 worth of funds from MSK Invest after the company said it would not return funds to investors because a crypto regulation bill has yet to be approved by Congress. The group had reportedly promised a 5% monthly return to investors. (Portal do Bitcoin)
The fiancee of Brazilian singer Perlla was a murder target of Glaidson Acácio dos Santos, founder of GAS Consultoria, according to leaked Federal Police documents. Glaidson is accused of orchestrating several attempted murders against competing cryptocurrency investment scheme operators in the Rio de Janeiro area. (Livecoins)