#194: Central Bank reveals plans for Drex super app
Plus: Uproar over IOF tax as government looks to tax crypto transactions
Olá pessoal!
Welcome back to Brazil Crypto Report for the week of June 2-6, 2025.
It was great some folks at the Token Nation event in Sao Paulo last week. Thanks to Aline Fernandes and the Token Nation team for the invitation to speak!
I’ll be back in SP this coming week for Febraban Tech, which is the biggest financial innovation conference in Latin America.
I’ll be doing a talk at the Foxbit stand on Wednesday morning, so please feel free to stop by and say hi if you’ll be around
🔎 What’s in BCR this week?
Central Bank reveals plans for Drex super app
Chamber of Deputies proposes new taxes on crypto as an alternative to IOF financial transactions tax
Security-first exchange Bumba lands in Brazil
Alexandre de Moraes freezes crypto assets of Federal Deputy Carla Zambelli
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
- AWS
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🎙️New Podcast!
For this week’s episode I spoke to Sebastian Serrano, CEO of Ripio. We explored the explosive growth of stablecoins in Argentina and broader Latin America, new developments on the regulatory front in Argentina under Javier Milei, and how Ripio’s business has evolved on the B2B side with partnerships with Mercado Libre and others.
Sebastian is one of the true OGs of crypto in Latin America, so it was a pleasure to get a download from him on how he sees this slice of the market maturing
House speaker Motta proposes taxing crypto to reduce IOF tax
Hugo Motta, speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, proposed taxing cryptocurrencies as an alternative to the IOF financial transactions tax announced last month.
After the 3.5% tax was announced, Congress threatened to overturn the decree and gave the government a 10 day deadline to present an alternative. Motta said that taxing crypto is a “possible path” but that nothing is set in stone.
“Let me finish this properly so that I don’t give information and it becomes something else. It affects the economy, you have to be careful”.
The crypto tax idea was echoed by BNDES president Aloizio Mercadante, who also proposed a tax increase on betting sites to offset the IOF.
The local industry obviously wasn’t happy about this short-sighted idea, noting that it would be technically unfeasible to tax transactions executed peer to peer or via a decentralized exchange.
The likely impact would be to incentivize Brazilian users to use platforms that are not domiciled in the country to avoid paying these new taxes.
Vanessa Butalla of Mercado Bitcoin explained:
“In Brazil, for example, many clients already contract with exchanges that position themselves as foreign, leaving it up to them, in practice, to report transactions involving crypto assets”.
Guilherme Sacamone, country director for OKX Brasil, explained that 50% of transactions in BRL already occur on international platforms that have no tax obligations with Brazil.
“By artificially increasing the cost of transactions in entities with a presence in Brazil, the effect will be the opposite of what is desired: users migrating to platforms abroad, where there is no tax liability with Brazil.”
ABToken, a trade group, issued a statement against the proposal, explaining:
“Our sector does not have any tax privileges and is already impacted, including by the IOF Exchange on international remittances destined for the acquisition of virtual assets.”
The pushback against the IOF tax is coming from multiple fronts. Gustavo Cunha of the Fintrender podcast wrote in a column for Valor Investe arguing why the tax is a bad idea in principal, but also that there are now technological alternatives in the form of stablecoins:
“This is not only a bad decision from an economic point of view, but above all, it is yet another demonstration of the Brazilian government's structural vice of controlling, monitoring and taxing everything it can.”
He added that the IOF tax proposal follows a disturbing pattern of heightened government surveillance and control:
“In the specific case of the IOF, the logic follows the same formula: the government wants to track the flow of money in any direction, whether inside or outside the country, and take its share at each stage.”
“It wants to maintain the feeling that only the State has the legitimacy to authorize citizens to use their own money as they see fit.”
CoinTelegraph Brasil Portal do Bitcoin Portal do Bitcoin BlockNews Portal do Bitcoin
Security-first exchange Bumba lands in Brazil
Dubai-based crypto exchange Bumba is launching in Brazil with an eye for delivering institutional grade security to traders.
The platform boasts a AAA solvency rating on the Cer.live website that ranks exchanges based on their security practices and certifications. It also has CCSS level 3 certification for asset custody and an information security management system that complies with ISO 27,001 standards.
CEO David Miller, a finance veteran originally from the UK, told Valor:
“We have a multi-layered security framework, which involves threat detection through artificial intelligence, zero-trust architecture and compliance focused on full compliance with regulations.”
While other exchanges in the market are competing via a fee war and racing to list new assets, Miller argues that battle tested security and compliance will be a deciding factor for institutional users:
“Users of these other exchanges may suffer from concentration risks and may choose to diversify their assets to more brokerages, moving capital to the one that is safer”
Xandão freezes crypto assets of Federal Deputy Carla Zambelli
Alexandre de Morães ordered the freezing of any cryptocurrencies possessed by Deputy Carla Zambelli, in addition to blocking her bank accounts, investments and any physical assets of value such as cars and real estate.
Zambelli, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, is currently a fugitive from Brazil, after being sentenced to ten years in prison for supposedly hacking into the National Council of Justice’s electronic system. She is currently in Europe using her Italian citizenship and does not intend to return to Brazil due to the conviction.
Morães also ordered the freezing of her passport and diplomatic documents and Zambelli’s salary.
Central Bank reveals plans for Drex super app
Henrique Videira of Brazil’s Central Bank revealed for the first time how the Drex wallet will eventually work, in conjunction with Open Finance. and Pix, as infrastructure for a “super app” that will be integrated into the banking system.
“However, it is unlikely that this “super app” will be from the Central Bank itself. The most viable proposal — and one that has already been designed — is for this environment to be within the app of the financial institutions with which the customer has a relationship. In other words, the citizen will access this consolidated view through their bank’s app or their digital wallet.”
The Central Bank’s role would be to ensure that the service is accessible and exists with unified standards, interoperability and governance.
When the user opens the app, they will find consolidated positions of everything they possess inside the national financial system, including bank deposits and other assets registered in Drex such as stocks, real estate and automobiles.
Users will also be able to move around within the app any asset linked to Drex, and be able to see personalized credit offers available to them.
“They will have their ‘financial life’ all in one place, with a fluid and transparent experience on the front-end. For example, they will see their bank deposits, the properties registered in Drex, the automobiles also linked, in addition to their financial investments. All of this will be organized in a single integrated view within the app. This aggregator concept is essential to the model that is being built.”
This app would serve to facilitate competition in the financial system and that the end beneficiaries will be consumers, particularly with regards to accessing credit.
Videira also revealed that the Central Bank is considering using Drex to calibrate monetary policy decisions. He said that Drex can act as a complementary tool for analyzing and making interest rate policy decisions, due to its ability to consolidate large structured data sets on economic activity on both the retail and wholesale levels.
“If you have everything concentrated or have a large part tokenized in the Drex environment, you will see the inflow, the outflow, how much is being rebuilt, bought, sold, real estate. You will see how much new business is being generated, how much real estate is being sold, whether there is inflation in real estate or not.”
This would present a more real-time source of information about the Brazilian economy than is currently available. He emphasized that the objective is not to track individual user behavior, but rather to understand broader macroeconomic patterns.
“This new model can change the way we view economic and financial policy. In this context, Drex is not just a digital currency or technological infrastructure — it is also a strategic platform for economic intelligence. The Central Bank’s vision is to transform this tool into something that benefits both macroeconomic stability and the daily lives of Brazilian citizens.”
CoinTelegraph Brasil CoinTelegraph Brasil Valor Valor CriptoFacil Exame BeinCrypto
🗞Brazil Crypto News Rundown
📈 Markets
Brazilians traded R$19 billion (US$3.4 billion) in crypto during the month of May, up 19% from April. The uptick was fueled by strong interest in bitcoin, which moved R$6.8 billion. Tether accounted for R$7.8 billion in volume. (Livecoins)
Brazil’s CVM is studying the use of blockchain in central depositories and over-the-counter markets, indicating a potential structural change in the country’s capital markets. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Shares of Meliuz are up 197% year-to-date in 2025, making it the best performing stock on the B3 exchange. (Portal do Bitcoin)
M3 Lending and Liqi are launching a tokenized credit project with the aim of simplifying access to loans for small and medium sized businesses. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
📲 Adoption
Tools for Humanity, the company behind the World (formerly Worldcoin) identity project, intends to resume operations (specifically the “financial incentives” associated with registering a user’s identity) in Brazil after running into problems with the country’s data protection authority. Juliana Felippe, the company’s new Brazil country director, explained:
"We want to operate 100% aligned with local authorities, but also help resolve online fraud in a scalable way, with people having control over their own digital credentials." (Exame)
Nkiru Uwaje, CEO and founder of Mansa, argued that countries like Brazil face a dilemma over whether to regulate stablecoins as foreign currencies or integrate them into the local financial system
“Brazil wants to protect exchange control and data sovereignty, but classifying stablecoins as exchange transactions creates silos and operational complexity for companies.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Brazil’s Telecommunications Research and Development Center will invest (CPQD) will invest R$7.3 million to develop healthcare applications based on blockchain technology. (Portal do Bitcoin)
The Central Bank should create a specific type of license for companies that operate with crypto payments and asset tokenization but aren’t involved in trading or issuance of new assets, Bitybank CFO Ibiacu Caetano argued. He explained that if the rules proposed by the regulator are enacted as is, many companies focused on payments will not be able to obtain the license because they do not operate in investments.
"If we are talking about a future of the tokenized economy, there will be more and more assets on blockchain, even without people knowing, but there has to be a regulated financial institution for this. And if it is not an intermediary, it will not be able to touch virtual assets in the business model. It would have a very big impact, and it could make (payment institutions) obsolete in this tokenized economy." (Exame)
Caixa Economica Federal successfully tested an offline payment solution in the second phase of the Drex pilot, with the objective of bringing payments and banking to areas with little internet access in the Amazon region. (Valor) (Exame) (BeinCrypto)
The Belo Horizonte City Council approved the use of bitcoin in taxes and commerce. (BlockNews) (Livecoins)
Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust announced Valor Capital Group and BrBPO among its newest cohort of members. (BlockNews)
Guilherme Bettanin has taken over as Brazil country manager for Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 developed by Coinbase. (Portal do Bitcoin) (BlockNews)
Henrique Videira of the Central Bank explained that Parfin’s Rayls privacy solution has proven to be the most promising in Phase 2 of the Drex pilot, but he emphasized that several privacy solutions will likely be utilized for different modules. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Young people are moving away from traditional savings accounts and towards investing in crypto, according to a survey from Anbima. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Brazilian retailer Riachuelo launched a 100% traceable fashion collection using a blockchain and AI solution built by Blockforce. (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (Exame)
Global fintech RedotPay announced a partnership with Circle to expand its services to Brazil. It will allow users to send cryptocurrencies directly to Brazilian bank accounts with automatic conversion to reals. (BeinCrypto)
The city of Rondonopolis is adopting AI and blockchain in its tax management and collection via a new project. (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (Livecoins)
The billion-dollar INSS social security fraud scandal could have been prevented with the use of blockchain-native features like immutability of records, traceability and programmability, industry experts argue. (Valor)
🏛 Policy, Regulation and Enforcement
The Parliamentary Front for the Free Market in the Chamber of Deputies proposed an amendment to the constitution to abolish the IOF financial transactions tax. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Federal Police launched the second phase of Operation Cryptoscam against a group of hackers based in Balneario Camburiu that are allegedly responsible for a series of cryptocurrency thefts and bank fraud attempts. (Portal do Bitcoin) (Livecoins)
Civil Police in Rio Grande do Sul launched the newest phase of Operation Timeo, with several arrests and search and seizure warrants being executed against members of a criminal scheme. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)