#152: 🚀Solana ETF approved by CVM
#152: 🚀Solana ETF approved by CVM
Also: Primo Rico sells his bitcoins; CVM again probes asset tokenizers
Olá pessoal!
Welcome back to 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report for the week of August 5-9. I’m back from holiday and finishing up an apartment move this week. Excited to get back in the groove here and finish the back half of the year strong.
Lots of news this week so let’s dive in!
🔍What’s in BCR this week?
The CVM, Brazil’s securities regulator, approved a Solana ETF proposal from QR Asset
The CVM has been sending letters to asset tokenizers inquiring about the nature of their operations
Financial influencer Primo Rico revealed that he sold his bitcoins recently
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
-AWS
🙌 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report is a free publication; if you wish to support my work you can do so by hitting the button below👇
Brazil Crypto Report is presented by
Kaleido is the most trusted digital assets and blockchain company by enterprises. Their product suite is the ultimate business blockchain cloud and is rated #1 for tokenization and #1 for blockchain-as-a-service. Kaleido is powered by open source, supports multiple protocols, connects to permissioned and public chains, and lets you utilize any smart contract. Tokenizing assets in a scalable and interoperable way has never been easier.
Built by veterans of IBM Blockchain and Consensys, the Kaleido platform combines turnkey functionality with enterprise-grade security and scalability to power your application — whether it be in banking and financial services, supply chain, media, government & public sector, or central bank digital currencies.
Learn more and try it free at Kaleido.io
🎙New podcast!
No new podcast this week, but I’m reflagging this fascinating conversation I released two weeks ago with Luca Prosperi and João Reginatto of M^0 Labs.
Rather than creating a token that simply serves as a wrapper on the US banking sector and consolidates power with a single issuer, M^0 is building an ecosystem that allows multiple issuers to issue a fungible cryptodollar by locking up eligible collateral.
Definitely worth tuning in to this one as this will be a project to watch in the coming months and years.
🎧 You can find Brazil Crypto Report content wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon | Anchor | YouTube
CVM approves world’s first Solana spot ETF
The CVM, Brazil’s securities regulator, approved the request filed by QR Asset, which also offers several other cryptocurrency ETFs in Brazil.
It will be the world’s first Solana ETF, though there are several similar Solana exchange traded products (ETPs) trading in Europe. The product will track the CME CF Solana Dollar Reference Rate, created by CF Benchmarks and CME.
QR Asset will offer the ETF, Vortx will be the fund’s manager and the product will trade on the B3 once it is fully approved by the exchange. The fund is currently trading in pre-operational phase. There is no specific launch date yet, but it is expected to come within 90 days.
Theodoro Fleury, manager and chief investment officer at QR Asset, said in a statement:
“This ETF reaffirms our commitment to offering quality and diversification to Brazilian investors. We are proud to be global pioneers in this segment, consolidating Brazil's position as a leading market for regulated investments in crypto assets.”
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at asset manager Van Eck, said that the SOL ETF approval in Brazil all but guarantees that a US approval of such a product will happen eventually. He told Decrypt:
“The approval of the SOL ETF in Brazil signals that a US equivalent is not just a possibility—it is as inevitable as the next block in the chain…That said, it appears that US regulation needs a ‘soft fork’ before being released, and the White House holds the keys.”
CoinDesk CoinTelegraph Brasil CriptoFacil Valor Exame InfoMoney Portal do Bitcoin BlockNews
Police seize R$55 million from PCC-linked exchange
São Paulo Civil Police carried out an operation against a Primeiro Comando Capital scheme that used a cryptocurrency exchange and virtual bank to launder drug money and funnel contributions to political candidates.
Police executed 20 arrest warrants and 60 search and seizure warrants against PCC-linked individuals in the state of São Paulo. A court also ordered more than R$8 billion (US$1.5 billion) worth of assets belonging to those being investigated.
The R$55 million (US$10 million) was seized at the exchange’s headquarters in São Paulo, though the name of the exchange was not revealed by police.
PCC is one of Latin America’s largest gangs, with an estimated 40,000 members and 60,000 contractors.
Portal do Bitcoin CriptoFacil CoinDesk
CVM sends inquiry letters to asset tokenizers
The CVM sent letters to several Brazilian companies operating in the tokenization space over the last two months with questions about the nature of operations and how products are being distributed, Valor reports.
The regulator asked for lists of tokens issued and the names of assets backing the products. It also asked whether each asset issued is classified as a security, “utility” token or payment token.
Liqi, PeerBR and Hurst Capital confirmed receipt of such letters to Valor, while others like Tokeniza and Foxbit said they did not receive them. Several tokenizers have apparently received 2-3 from the CVM asking for information about operations dating back to January 2023.
One person familiar with the matter explained to Valor:
“Regulators say this is a market mapping they are doing, but this has made tokenizers uncomfortable, because at the end of the day they could be producing evidence against themselves.”
Rodrigo Borges of Carvalho Borges Araujo Advogados said that the CVM appears to trying to understand which tokenizers are adhering to the rules it published via circular letters last year. Most notably among these was a rule that token offerings must comply with CVM Resolution 88 which regulates investment via crowdfunding. Borges explained:
“Many platforms are creating tokens linked to credit products based on CVM 88. The topic is becoming increasingly relevant.”
Gustavo Blasco, founder of PeerBr and CEO of the GCB Group, said that he received the letters but saw “no problem” with them.
“In record time, we created a crowdfunding platform, qualified and, since then, we have carried out 100% of our issuances within the norm, with the respective CVM registrations. We have become the largest platform in the country, with around R$200 million issued and, for our part, we are always happy to contribute to the CVM both with information on what we are doing and with opinions on how to improve regulation in favor of development of the market.”
“Sheik of Bitcoin” arrested again in Curitiba
Francisley Valdevino da Silva, aka the “Sheik of Bitcoin”, was arrested again by Federal Police in Curitiba in Operation Maracutaia.
He was first arrested in November 2022 for running a cryptocurrency pyramid known as Rental Coins which collapsed in October of that year after defrauding 15,000 people out of R$4 billion.
The Sheik was provisionally released in July 2023 under the condition that he comply with precautionary measures. But former customers complained that he continued to participate in fraudulent activities such as using a former employee’s bank account to hide expenses.
Portal do Bitcoin CoinTelegraph Brasil InfoMoney BeinCrypto Livecoins
🗞Brazil Crypto News Rundown
📈 Markets
Portal do Bitcoin profiles investor Guga Stucco’s idea to turn every Brazilian into a startup investor through tokenization.
While the entry fee to become a venture financier in Brazil typically starts at R$1 million, Stucco created the STOCCO1 token to give retail investors exposure to his portfolio of six startups for a minimum entry of R$100.
Payouts begin when the companies go public or are acquired
Stucco argues that the setup is only possible because of blockchain, which provides easy registration, auditing and liquidity:
“If a person needs to sell, they will go to the secondary market and sell. There is no need to wait for dividends to be paid, as this is a process that takes years.”
80% of Brazilian investors want to use cryptocurrencies for payments, according to a survey by Foxbit of its client base. Only 16% of respondents said that they have already used crypto to make a payment in some form. (Portal do Bitcoin)
Nuclea has a new partnership with AmFi to tokenize duplicates, with the objective of expanding access to products for Brazilian investors. Rodrigo Furiato, Vice President of Business at Nuclea, said in a statement:
“Núclea Chain not only tokenizes the duplicate, but also maintains the entire history of the debtor, the paths and changes that occurred, that is, it is completely backable, secure, informative and accessible, in addition to guaranteeing the uniqueness of the asset. It is a guarantee for the investor's decision-making and the certainty that they are purchasing an asset sold only once.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (BlockNews)
Central Bank president Roberto Campos Neto is the target of an investigation into whether he allegedly tried to profit from raising the country’s interest rates. The suspicions date back to the Pandora Papers leak from 2021, which revealed that Campos Neto opened an offshore company in the Virgin Islands in 2004 that his opponents allege he used for tax evasion and other conflicts of interest. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Bitget expects bitcoin to hit US$100,000 by the end of 2024, CEO Gracey Chen said in an interview with Exame.
Cryptocurrencies are the best investments to protect against global debt despite current volatility, analysts at Genial Investimentos argued in a research note. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Brazil is expected to top R$2 trillion (US$354 billion) in trading volume for 2024, according to a study by CoinWire. The study also found that Brazil has the highest crypto adoption in Latin America. (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (BeinCrypto) (Livecoins)
Volumes of crypto exchanges operating in Brazil surged last Monday after the epic sell-off. Exchanges like Binance and Bybit as well as asset managers like Hashdex and QR Asset saw some of their best days year-to-date. Hashdex CIO Samir Kerbage told Valor:
“It is a clear demonstration that our crypto education work has had an effect, with investors rebalancing your positions or even starting new investments, taking advantage of price adjustments in crypto.”
The US SEC postponed a decision on Hashdex’s Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF proposal, which would be the first diversified spot crypto ETF in the country. (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (CriptoFacil)
📲 Adoption
Financial influencer Thiago Nigro, known as Primo Rico, announced that he sold all of this bitcoins recently, but that he his still bullish and intends to buy more in the future. (Livecoins)
Cardano Foundation and Petrobras unveiled a new blockchain education initiative at Blockchain Rio. The goal of the Petrobras UP Cardano Blockchain Academy is to help Petrobras’ 40,000 employees better understand and use blockchain technology. (BeinCrypto)
Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry has recommended that the sale of all carbon credits in Brazil, whether in the form of tokens or otherwise, be suspended immediately in light of suspected fraudulent activity. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Daniel Coelho, a candidate for mayor in Recife, declared R$128,000 (US$23,000) in bitcoin that appreciated 412% since his initial investment. (Portal do Bitcoin) (Livecoins)
Bitso is expanding its service offering in Brazil via Pix, whereby users will be able to carry out all available financial operations using the payment solution. These include creating individualized keys, transfers, payment via QR code, cash deposits and ATM withdrawals. (BlockNews)
Visa is excited about participating in the second phase of the Drex pilot, explained Catalina Tobar, Head of Crypto Solutions for Latin America and the Caribbean.
"We are very proud of our work on the Drex project and very excited about what this means for the CBDC space in Brazil and internationally. Currently, the first phase of testing is still ongoing and it is too early to share any results, but we are working with our partners to continue testing and refining the solution.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Banco da Amazonia released a competition notice for new positions that require knowledge of cryptocurrencies. (Livecoins)
The Ministry of Education and Culture has authorized a new fully online course on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. (BeinCrypto)
Artificial intelligence could directly impact between 26% and 38% of jobs in Latin America, according to a new report from the International Labor Organization and the World Bank. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Brazil's Internal Temporary Commission on Artificial Intelligence (an organ within the Senate) summoned Minister of Science and Technology Luciano Santos to provide more detail about the Brazilian government’s artificial intelligence plan - which is forecast to invest R$28 billion (US$5 billion) into AI by 2028. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
🏛 Policy, Regulation and Enforcement
The CVM issued a stop order against TF Global Markets, a Seychelles based company and operator of the ThinkMarkets brokerage which had been offering forex and crypto trading services in Brazil without authorization. (Portal do Bitcoin) (CriptoFacil) (Exame) (Livecoins)
CVM president João Pedro Nascimento said that the agency is working on a new standard that regulates issuances by small and medium-sized enterprises, a move that should benefit tokenizers and marketplaces focusing on that market segment. At an event in São Paulo, he explained:
“The authority is working on a flexible regulatory approach aimed at these emitters. We expect to submit proposals for public consultation this year, as stated in our regulatory agenda.” (BlockNews)
Taxes collected from exchanges and other crypto service providers will be distributed between federal, state and municipal governments under the current version of a tax reform proposal working through Congress. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Civil Police in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro arrested one of the partners of Sinapse, a pyramid that promised 10% returns on cryptocurrency investments. (Portal do Bitcoin)
Police in Rio de Janeiro also arrested a mother and daughter involved in a pyramid operated by the “Prince of Bitcoin” - evangelical pastor Fabricio Vasconcelos Nogueira. (Portal do Bitcoin)
A São Paulo Court maintained ex-football star Ronaldinho Gaucho’s innocence in the 18k Ronaldinho cryptocurrency pyramid. (Portal do Bitcoin)
Federal Police hosted a conference focused on apprehending crypto assets in Santa Catarina. (Livecoins)