#176: Eike Batista ❤️ Bitcoin
Plus: Worldcoin at impasse with Brazil's data protection regulator; Eduardo Bolsonaro speaks out against Drex
Olá pessoal!
Welcome back to 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report for the week of January 27-31, 2025. I hope everyone is having a great start to their month of February.
🎉 I’m excited to kickstart this month by announcing Binance as a BCR platform sponsor. I’ve gotten the chance to know Guilherme Nazar and the local team quite well over the last few months, and I’ve been very impressed by their dedication to providing a great product and experience for users in a regulated and compliant manner. It’s an honor to be partnering with such a great team and brand.
🔎 What’s in this week’s BCR?
Worldcoin’s problems with Brazilian data protection regulator continue
Central Bank extends crypto public consultation deadlines
Eduardo Bolsonaro says Brazil should ban Drex, CBDCs
Eike Batista changes his mind on bitcoin; says it’s a “guaranteed” store of value
Tether CEO Ardoino warns about Brazil’s proposed stablecoin rules
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
- AWS
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🎙New Podcast!
This week’s episode is a live panel that was recorded at the inaugural Brazil House in Davos, Switzerland on the outskirts of the World Economic Forum. I hosted Andre Portilho of BTG Pactual, Caroline Malcolm of Oxford University, Dante Disparte of Circle and Alan Cohn of Steptoe, LLC to discuss the current state of digital assets in Brazil.
This was a really great conversation that brought together both the insider and outsider point of view on the Brazil landscape. Definitely worth a watch or listen!
🎧 You can find Brazil Crypto Report content wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon | Anchor | YouTube
ANPD tells Worldcoin to cease payments for data collection
Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) ordered Tools for Humanity — the company behind the World protocol — to cease offering crypto or other financial compensation in exchange for individual data in Brazil starting January 27.
The agency said that providing compensation in exchange for personal data can impair the consent those providing the information:
“In accordance with the LGPD General Data Protection Law, consent to the processing of sensitive personal data, such as biometric data, needs to be free, informed, unequivocal and provided in a specific and prominent way, for specific purposes.”
The regulator also ordered the company to identify the individual responsible for processing the personal data.
In response, TFH has asked ANPD to extend the window of time to comply with the order, continuing payments in the meantime. It said:
"We are in contact with ANPD and confident that we can work with the agency to ensure the continuous ability of all Brazilians to participate entirely in the World nework."
Damien Kieran, VP of Data Protection at Tools for Humanity, said that the company does not intend to stop offering World tokens to individuals who register with the protocol. “What we offer is an incentive”, he told Valor, adding that the company has a “good relationship” with ANPD.
There are concerns that many Brazilians are signing up for the service simply for the roughly R$675 worth of World tokens, rather than to participate in a decentralized identity protocol.
“The objective of the project is not yet clear to the population,” said Patricia Peck of Peck Advogados.
Valor Portal do Bitcoin Livecoins CriptoFacil BlockNews BeinCrypto CoinTelegraph Brasil
Central Bank extends crypto public consultation deadlines
The bank has extended the deadline for its two public consultations on crypto market regulations and stablecoins/FX.
The original deadline for comments was February 7; this has been extended to February 28, 2025.
The bank stated that the extensions are intended to allow for “more in-depth analysis” of the consultations presented to the public, "especially since this is an initial regulation on the provision of these services by institutions authorized to operate by the Central Bank."
Valor Portal do Bitcoin Exame CoinTelegraph Brasil
Eduardo Bolsonaro says Brazil should ban Drex, CBDCs
The federal deputy and son of the former president posted on X that Brazil should follow Donald Trump’s example and ban central bank digital currencies. He also directly attacked Drex and called for implementation of the project to be blocked.
“Pres. Trump said in his speech that he will transform the US into the world capital of crypto and signed a decree preventing the development of a centralized digital currency, which is what Lula wants to do in Brazil by creating a digital currency called DREX. We cannot be left behind in Brazil, we need to prevent DREX from being put into circulation.”
Valor Livecoins CoinTelegraph Brasil
Eike Batista says bitcoin is a “guaranteed” store of value
Batista, who was formerly Brazil’s richest man before his empire imploded, has changed his mind on bitcoin and cryptos. “I have my eyes attentive to the cryptocurrency market,” he said in an Instagram video.
The former tycoon said that he has been studying bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and claims that the technology can “make a difference in the world” and disrupt existing financial institutions.
In a video posted to his Instagram account, he said:
“I confess that at first I was not very confident in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. For me, I'm a real -world entrepreneur. But I recently dedicated myself to studying a little more and I understand that the technology behind the cryptocurrencies will make a difference in the world, which will be totally tokenized, uncovering the stock bags, making a kind of crowdfunding via tokenization in which you It has absolute confidence and security of this technology. Your token is 100% of yours.”
He also explained why he now believes in bitcoin as a reserve asset:
“We live in a world of excesses, Japan has a larger debt than GDP. This makes bitcoin, a currency that was created with a number stipulated back there, actually a guaranteed and absolute value reserve. A lot of people in the world want to put their money in an asset that has limited availability.”
Exame Livecoins Portal do Bitcoin
Bitcoin to be integrated with Pix network via Truther
A new partnership between Rocelo Lopes’ Truther app and Samson Mow of Jan3 seeks to allow people to send and receive payments via Brazil’s Pix network via bitcoin layer 2 networks.
The Truther app currently allows Brazilians to send and receive Pix payments and settle in USDT. Lopes says that the USDT option will remain available for the time being:
"Due to the volatility of Bitcoin at the moment, we will still need stablecoins for a few years and so we will arrive in Brazil with an integration with Swapix, integrating Pix with the new economy and you can pay with reais using Bitcoin Blockchain via Layer 2, with an operation cost of $ 0.03 cents. People in Brazil are using Pix then, if they want a stable Brazilian currency right now, we will give it this option.”
Tether’s Ardoino warns about Brazil’s proposed stablecoin rules
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino criticized the proposed stablecoin rules put for by Brazil’s Central Bank that seek restrict transferability of stablecoins. Tether currently makes up 80% of the crypto market in Brazil.
Speaking with CoinTelegraph Brasil’s Cassio Gusson at Plan B in El Salvador, he said:
"It is much better for the country to work with the people and ensure freedom of choice…If the government tries to have full control over people's money, they will seek alternatives.”
He compared the proposals to new European Union rules known as MICA, which impose strict rules on stablecoin issuers. He says that these high regulatory burdens, particularly in places like Italy, serve to force money out of the regulated system and create a large informal market.
Ardoino also spoke out against CBDC implementation, calling it a “huge risk to financial freedom” and stressed that the best approach for Brazil to take it is to create a regulatory environment that encourage economic activity and growth.
🗞Brazil Crypto News Rundown
📈 Markets
The Santos fan token surged 20% this week after it was announced that Neymar would be returning to the football club. Beset by injuries, he terminated his contract with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal and is expected to sign a five year deal with Santos — where he began his career 12 years ago. (Valor) (InfoMoney) (Portal do bitcoin) (BeinCrypto) (CriptoFacil)
Hashdex’s Solana ETF, known as Solh11, exceeded R$100 million in AUM less than 100 days after launching. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
The crypto taxation rules proposed by Brazil’s Central Bank could make bitcoin as much as 10% more expensive in the country than on the global market, similar to Korea’s “Kimchi Premium”. This would likely happen if bitcoin transactions were to be subjected to the IOF financial transactions tax, and if exchanges are required to adopt a local order book. An expert consulted by CoinTelegraph Brasil said:
“Just see what was happening in Brazil between 2013 and 2016, when there was a limited offer in the cryptocurrency exchanges to buy Bitcoin with reais and the P2P, which dominated much of the crypto-shit market charged a spread of 3% to 12% in the price.”
Financial influencer Tiago Nigro, aka Primo Rico, invested R$1 million in bitcoin after selling his position in November. (Exame) (Portal do Bitcoin) (Livecoins) (BlockNews) (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
The total volume of bitcoin futures contracts traded on Brazil’s B3 exchange since launching the products last April surpassed R$1 trillion. (InfoMoney)
Liqi has hired Pedro Paulo Teixeira as its business director. Teixeira is a specialist in funding and financial technology, and is credited with structuring the first FDIC (credit rights fund) in Brazil. Liqi said in a statement:
"Teixeira assumes the challenge of further climbing the company's operations, boosting tokenization fronts and crypto services.” (Valor)
📲 Adoption
Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin said that while he doesn’t think most countries will implement CBDCs, he thinks Brazil’s Drex model could be one of the few countries with the capability to do so. He told CoinTelegraph Brasil:
“In fact, most countries will not implement a CBDC, simply because they do not have the technical and structural capacity for it. Brazil, however, is one of the few countries where this implementation seems viable.”
BEE4 received a license from the CVM to act as a depositary center — making it the country’s first digital depository that can custody assets, manage their liquidation, reconcile balances and movements, etc. The blockchain-based exchange lists shares of small-and medium-sized entites. It is now awaiting authorization as an organized counter market administrator. CEO and co-founder Patricia Stille said:
“The definitive licenses will be made to give us a position to promote the wide development of this segment in the next many many years. Brazil needs an access market.” (BlockNews)
Bitso Business has launched a global accelerator program for stablecoins startups operating or intending to operate in the Latin America market. Selected startups will receive investment up to US$250,000. (BlockNews) (BeinCrypto) (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Several Brazilian companies attending the Plan B conference in El Salvador said that they intend to move their headquarters to the country so as to take advantage of government benefits and exemptions. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
99Pay, a digital payments platform in Brazil, has been the subject of complaints from users who say their cryptocurrency balances have been disappeared. (CriptoFacil)
Former president Jair Bolsonaro’s X account was once again hacked by scammers who used it to promote a memecoin launch. (Portal do Bitcoin) (InfoMoney)
Parfin co-founder Cristian Bohn has joined Circle to lead business development in the Latin America region. He told BlockNews:
"At first, we will have a greater focus in Brazil and Mexico, but we are also looking at Argentina and Colombia…There is a clear mandate (from Circle) of investment in the region. We see a lot of potential in different countries.”
🏛 Policy, Regulation and Enforcement
A Sao Paulo court has ordered that the assets of an attorney for BlueBenx be frozen and used to reimburse victims of the crypto pyramid. (Portal do Bitcoin)
Anatel, Brazil’s telecommunications agency, has launched its own artificial intelligence laboratory. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
A proposal to create a Brazilian Strategic Bitcoin reserve is gaining support in Congress. Federal Deputy Eros Biondini, who introduced the proposal in November, said that the bill has been gaining steady support from deputies who were not familiar with bitcoin previously.
"Many parliamentarians who once did not know Bitcoin are now interested and seeking more information. In addition, we are already in contact with the presidency of the responsible committee so that the rapporteur understand the project from the beginning, avoiding difficulties in public hearings and consultations.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (CriptoFacil)