#189: CVM to open public consultations on tokenization and crowdfunding rules
Plus: Blockchain to unlock US$3.2 trillion in global capital markets, says Valor Capital; Wormhole launches in Brazil with Mercado Bitcoin
Olá pessoal!
Welcome back to Brazil Crypto Report for the week of April 28 - May 2, 2025. It was great seeing many of you at Web Summit Rio last week.
I had busy few days hosting several sessions at the Transfero stand, moderating some panels on the fintech stage, and trying to catch Ubers out of the venue💀. Big thanks to the Transfero team for the opportunity to be a part of this experience.
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🔎 What’s in BCR this week?
Imports of crypto assets down 30% year-over-year to US$3.3 billion in Q1
Valor Capital: Blockchain unlocks US$3.2 trillion in global capital markets
CVM to open public consultations on tokenization and crowdfunding
Central Bank’s proposed custody rule is a problem for overseas exchanges
Wormhole launches in Brazil with Mercado Bitcoin partnership
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
- AWS
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🎙New Podcast!
Crypto companies that intend to apply for a license in Brazil under the forthcoming regulatory framework need to begin setting up operations in the country now.
That’s the takeaway from this week’s podcast with Tatiana Guazzelli of Pinheiro Neto and Marcos Rocha of Veirano Advogados. We explore the Central Bank’s most recent public consultations, some controversial proposals that still need to be ironed out, the multi-phased process of applying for a license, grandfathering provisions that will likely be a part of licensing process, and a lot more.
🎧 You can find Brazil Crypto Report content wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon | Anchor | YouTube
“Imports” of crypto assets drop to US$3.3 billion in Q1
Crypto asset purchases from abroad into Brazil fell to US$3.3 billion during the first quarter of the year, down from US$4.7 billion for the same period from 2024.
The 30% drop means that Brazil’s crypto asset account deficit narrowed from US$4.3 billion to US$3.1 billion.
The data was published by the Central Bank last week.
Valor Capital: Blockchain unlocks US$3.2 trillion in global finance
A new report by Valor Capital argues that blockchain tech applied to global finance and trading infrastructures could unlock as much as US$3.2 trillion in capital markets.
The report, released at Web Summit Rio, estimates that 33,500 financial institutions with revenues above US$100 million could save ~7% on technology and back-office expenses by adopting blockchain. These efficiency gains would be found in areas like lower transaction fees, process automation, simplified KYC/AML procedures, reduced duplications, etc.
Valor also argues in the report that potential gains from tokenizing financial assets have not been fully explored. Bruno Batavia, director of emerging technologies at the VC firm, said that tokenization could create a US$1.4 trillion market by making RWA assets more liquid and accessible:
“Tokenization can unlock trillions of dollars in liquidity, making historically illiquid assets much more accessible – not just to institutional investors, but also to individuals. This is especially impactful for sectors such as real estate, where fractionalization through tokenized structures can democratize access and reduce operational costs.”
Qin En Looi, a partner at Saison Capital, reckons that tokenization of commodities should be the next step in blockchain adoption, particularly in emerging market countries like Indonesia — where the asset tokenization market is expected to reach US$88 billion by 2030.
“Blockchain is emerging not just as a speculative asset, but as a key driver of economic modernization.”
CVM to open public consultations on tokenization
The CVM, Brazil’s securities regulator, is preparing to open two public consultations later this year involving new rules for tokenizing assets deemed to be securities.
The first consultation will focus on adapting CVM Resolution 88, known as the “crowdfunding rule”, to be more compatible with securitization via electronic and tokenization platforms.
The second proposes an experimental rule that accommodates innovations tested in the CVM’s regulatory sandbox, which first launched in 2020 and has been extended to 2026.
João Pirola, co-founder of AmFi and coordinator of the regulatory working group at ABToken, argued that some of the crowdfunding rules need to be modified because most issuances today are in the form of debt rather than equity.
Debt issuance operations using tokens were included in the scope of Resolution 88 through two circular letters issued by the CVM in 2023, marking a step in the right direction. He told Valor:
“With the letters, CVM showed that there was a path for debt tokenization with more legal certainty, but since the Brazilian market is very focused on debt and not equity, it was also natural for the tokenization movement to adhere more to debt.”
Among the requests for modernizing the rule include increases in issuance limits from R$15 million to R$50 million and revenue from R$40 million to R$100 million.
Exame CoinTelegraph Brasil BeinCrypto
Central Bank’s proposed custody rule is a problem for overseas exchanges
A rule proposed in Public Consultation 109 is causing problems for crypto exchanges operating in Brazil but custody assets abroad.
The rule states that a VASP can only use a custodian in a foreign jurisdiction if said jurisdiction has regulations compatible with Brazil AND if the regulatory authority of that country has a formal cooperation agreement in place with Brazil’s Central Bank.
This is problematic because the universe of countries that have such agreements in place is quite limited.
Julia Rosin, head of public policy for Brazil at Bitso, explained to Valor:
“The Central Bank makes available the agreements it has with other regulators, but not all of them regulate crypto. Of the 25 countries in which there are agreements, there are about ten or eleven left in which both criteria would be met.”
In the case of Bitso, it custodies its assets in Gibraltar — a country that does not have a cooperation agreement with Brazil’s Central Bank. This means the exchange would need to move its assets to another another country to continue operating in Brazil.
As many of these assets are stored in cold wallets disconnected from the internet, the wallets would need to be physically transported to the new location.
Coinbase, a US-based exchange that has a more decentralized custody system, says that the Central Bank wanting assets custodied in a country that has similar regulations to Brazil is reasonable, but the need for a formal cooperation agreement with the regulator is difficult. Fabio Plein, Coinbase’s Managing Director for the Americas, said:
“We disagree with the issue of the regulatory authority having to maintain an agreement with the country’s Central Bank, since this would be a foreign custodian that already complies with Brazilian regulations.”
Both Bitso and Coinbase have engaged the Central Bank directly on this question, as the window bank is expected to release final rules later this year.
Rosin explained:
“We ask that at least a reasonable period of time be granted so that we can adapt to the new form of custody if it is not possible to change the rule.”
Wormhole launches in Brazil with Mercado Bitcoin partnership
Interoperability platform Wormhole announced a partnership with Mercado Bitcoin to help the exchange expand its asset tokenization efforts.
Dan Reecer, co-founder of Wormhole, told Exame at Web Summit Rio:
"Our focus is on asset tokenization. We started in the United States and now we are moving to Brazil as well."
Wormhole provides the ability to launch different products across different blockchains, thus helping to achieve global scale. Reecer added:
"We are connected to 40 blockchains, which correspond to 97% of all blockchain volume. The market will have thousands of blockchains, some public and others private, but there will always be a concentration in a few. Everything happens today on Solana, Ethereum, Base and a few others.”
Reinaldo Rabelo, CEO of Mercado Bitcoin, said:
"Wormhole's solution brings us many benefits and makes it easier to focus on what is most important for the business: taking an asset from the real world to the digital world, without plugging into all the networks to meet specific situations. The idea is to remove friction from the process of distributing and placing tokens in the world.”
🗞Brazil Crypto News Rundown
📈 Markets
4% of Brazilians invested in cryptocurrencies in 2024, the same percentage as the prior year, according to Anbima’s Brazilian Investor X-Ray survey. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Crypto exchange Kraken announced an integration with Pix, allowing Brazilian users to make deposits more easily. Mark Greenberg, vice president at Kraken, said in a statement:
"Brazil is already one of Kraken's most relevant markets in Latin America, and today's launch marks an important step in deepening our commitment to the country….By integrating Pix, we are not just offering a new deposit method — we are expanding access to Kraken for millions of Brazilians who use cryptocurrencies as a tool to invest, save and transfer money globally," said the executive.” (Exame) (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (CriptoFacil)
Crypto.com launched a series of debit card products in Brazil that can be loaded with 80 different cryptocurrencies and offer cashback in the exchange’s native CRO token. USDC payments via the card offer a way for users to make payments in different countries without incurring the IOF financial transactions tax. The first tier is the Ruby card, with higher tier cards offering progressively more benefits. Thales Freitas, director general for Crypto.com in Brazil, explained that:
"People increasingly want to consolidate their financial lives in one place. Each Crypto.com country has a different set of products. The use cases in Brazil revolve around buying crypto, but the question then becomes how to spend it easily and without friction. Therefore, we believe that we have a lot to grow and differentiate ourselves, especially in forms of investment and remittance." (Exame) (Valor) (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (CriptoFacil)
Itau will not allow users to withdraw crypto assets from its platform to their own wallets, head of digital assets Guto Antunes argued during a panel at Web Summit Rio. Antunes said this is a deliberate decision to prevent misuse of these assets. He explained:
“The issue of not being able to withdraw crypto assets is an evolution. Crypto was used for money laundering and criminal financing. They used crypto as an intermediary because it was very easy: you could buy an asset and transfer it from anywhere and in any way, 24/7. Organized crime realized this and started using crypto for this purpose. That’s why a lot of people back then said that ‘crypto is for criminals, crypto is dangerous’.” (Portal do Bitcoin) (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (BeinCrypto)
Tokenized investments firm Nexa Finance is partnering with fiduciary infrastructure company Vortx for governance of its operations. Nexa is now launching its platform for asset managers and family offices to access tokenized products and distribute them to investors. Eduardo Furuie, co-founder of Nexa, told Valor:
“Vórtx comes in to validate that our issuance is genuine, the assets are separate and exist outside the blockchain. This ensures that Nexa's assets are not mixed with those of the issuance.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Payment processing giant Stripe announced the start of its activities in Latin America and promised to support stablecoin usage in Brazil via the Bridge stablecoin platform, which it acquired last year. The company said in a statement:
“This launch is the first step in a broader effort to support cross-border financial operations across Latin America. We plan to implement this in Brazil by summer (in the northern hemisphere) and in the rest of Latin America soon after.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
📲 Adoption
A new report from the Bank for International Settlements highlights Brazilian firms Itau, AmFi and Credix as being leaders in the tokenization market. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
The city of Rolante in Rio Grande do Sul, known for its heavy concentration of merchants that accept bitcoin, officially became the country’s first State Capital of Bitcoin. (Livecoins)
Dataprev, the state-owned IT company responsible for administering Social Security, announced a pilot project to allow users to be compensated for the use of their personal data via a partnership with DrumWave. Brittany Kaiser of Drumwave explained:
“Brazil will be the first country to launch a national pilot project for data ownership. Citizens will be able to authorize the use of this data for monetization, whether to supplement their income or invest in data savings.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Banco Bradesco is testing USDC payments and loans with tokenized collateral. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Gnosis Pay announced a strategic expansion into Brazil in a push to bring crypto infrastructure to traditional fintech products. It offers a global, multi-currency account with easy conversion between crypto and fiat, as well as a Visa card that’s accepted in 138 countries. Gnosis Pay will disseminate the product through partnerships with local companies such as PicNic, which launched its own card using Gnosis infrastructure at Web Summit. Rafael Pereira, CEO of Gnosis Pay, told Exame:
"Today, the problem is that a fintech has a phenomenal experience, but it still needs to plug into the traditional financial system, an infrastructure that is not visible to the customer, but is very heavy for those who make it. And, on the other side, money has become software.”
Bitso announced the winners of its stablecoin accelerator program. Brazilian firms Lumx and BlindPay were among the teams selected. (Portal do Bitcoin) (BeinCrypto)
Drex’s setbacks do not mean that the project will die, but it may be necessary to “evolve to another solution,” argued Renata Petrovic, head of innovation at Bradesco. She emphasized that Bradesco is still “expecting” Drex to come to fruition
"It is possible to think of other ways of doing it, perhaps being less decentralized. There are other ways to make a CBDC, another technical solution other than the one initially conceived." (Exame) (BeinCrypto)
Opposition to CBDCs in the US and growing resistance to Drex in the Brazilian Congress isn’t a huge threat to the project, Banco BV’s Joao Gianvecchio argued. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Tether acquired a 70% controlling interest in Adecoagro for US$615 million, with an eye for targeting expansion in Brazil and Latin America via the RWA token market. (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (Livecoins)
🏛 Policy, Regulation and Enforcement
Federal Police initiated Operation Fantasos against Douver Torres Braga, who was the alleged leader of the fraudulent scheme Trade Coin Club that raised between R$1.6 billion and R$1.8 billion during the years 2016-2018 and involved more than 100,000 investors. Police executed 11 warrants in Angra dos Reis and Petropolis in Rio de Janeiro. (InfoMoney) (Valor Investe) (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (CriptoFacil)
Very interesting piece, Aaron. Thanks.