#201: Central President Galipolo to open Blockchain Rio
Plus: FalconX launches in Brazil; Pharaoh of Bitcoins' wife turns against him in court
Olá pessoal!
Welcome back to Brazil Crypto Report for the week of July 28-August 1, 2025.
I’m excited to see everyone at Blockchain Rio this week. I will be hosting the Bridge Stage, which will feature English language content positioning Brazil as a key market for crypto and blockchain. Be sure to stop by and say hi!
In total the conference will feature 14 tracks over two days, covering topics like real world assets, cybersecurity, regulation and a lot more.
👊 Jump into the BCR English language Telegram group if you’d like to continue the conversation
📰 Top Stories this Week
Central Bank President Galipolo to give opening keynote at Blockchain Rio
Sanctioned Moraes won’t be able to use US-linked crypto products
Insitutional exchange FalconX launches operations in Brazil
Mirelis Zirpa turns against her husband, the “Pharaoh of Bitcoins”, in court
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
- AWS
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🎙️New Podcasts!
For this week’s show I talk to Daren Guo who is co-founder of Reap, which is a Hong Kong-based stablecoin and payments infrastructure company that is growing fast in Latin America.
We talk about how Daren’s experience as an early Stripe employee revealed the pain points and frictions that exist for companies operating across borders, particularly in emerging market countries.
We also discuss the three pillars of Reap’s product stack: a white labeled stablecoin card-as-a-service product for businesses, a cross-border payments platform that powers use cases like trade finance and import-export operations, and a stablecoin treasury management solution.
Central Bank President Galipolo to open Blockchain Rio
This year’s edition of Blockchain Rio will feature Central Bank president Gabriel Galipolo as the opening keynote speaker.
Galipolo has led the monetary authority since the beginning of the year after Roberto Campos Neto’s term expired.
While Campos Neto, who spoke at last year’s event, was a strong proponent of crypto and blockchain in the country during his tenure, Galipolo has not spoken much on the subject until now.
Blockchain Rio CEO Fernando Carvalho said:
"By accepting the invitation to participate in Blockchain.RIO, Galípolo repeats the gesture made last year by Campos Neto and sends a clear message to the entire Brazilian ecosystem involved in tokenization, that Brazil sees blockchain as a bridge to the future.”
Sanctioned Moraes won’t be able to use US-linked crypto products
You probably saw the news this week that the US invoked the Magnitsky Act against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, making him a sanctioned individual in the global financial system.
This means that he is prohibited from transacting with any US-based individuals or entities.
This includes US-based crypto exchanges like Coinbase or Kraken which are subject to OFAC (the US regulatory agency responsible for sanctions enforcement) oversight and would be required to block any transactions involving Moraes.
The use of stablecoins like USDT and USDC to evade sanctions is theoretically possible but also faces significant legal hurdles as both Circle and Tether have significant exposure to the US financial system. They would both be compelled to freeze Moraes’ tokens should they be linked to his identity.
Insitutional exchange FalconX launches operations in Brazil
The exchange and prime broker is entering the market through partnerships with Mercado Bitcoin and BTG Pactual.
It brings a suite of top-tier brokerage services like deep global liquidity, capital efficiency tools and enterprise-grade infrastructure to the Brazil market, which is seeing numerous banks and asset managers exploring crypto offerings.
Josh Barkhordar, FalconX’s Director of Sales for the Americas, said in a statement:
"Latin America is one of the fastest-growing regions in cryptocurrency adoption, supported by a cutting-edge financial sector, pioneering regulatory frameworks, and true economic drivers."
CoinTelegraph Brasil Portal do Bitcoin Bloomberg Linea
Mirelis Zirpa turns against her husband, the “Pharaoh of Bitcoins”, in court
Glaidson Acacio dos Santos, aka the “Pharaoh of Bitcoins”, was the public face of the multi-billion dollar GAS Consultoria crypto pyramid scheme. However, it was widely understood that his wife Mirelis Zirpa was the technical brains behind managing the entity’s crypto portfolios.
In a surprise turn, the couple has now separated and turned against each other as legal proceedings intensify. A statement from Mirelis’ lawyer says that she was a victim and was coerced into participation in the scheme.
"Mirelis was the victim of an abusive relationship for years and has been de facto separated from Mr. Glaidson for a long time, even before the criminal proceedings began. Their emotional ties are severed, and there is currently no personal connection between them.”
She is currently imprisoned in the Bangu Penitentiary Complex in Rio de Janeiro.
🗞Brazil Crypto News Rundown
📈 Markets
Luis Stuhlberger, the so-called “father” of multi-market funds in Brazil, defended Verde Asset’s small allocation to cryptocurrencies in a presentation at Expert XP in Sao Paulo. (InfoMoney)
Bitso has launched a new decentralized exchange called Bitso Onchain that will allow access to 17,000 tokens on more than 14 different blockchains. The platform is available to users in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. (Portal do Bitcoin)
Tether and Bybit announced a strategic partnership to promote cryptocurrency adoption in Brazil. (Livecoins)
A DEX built on XRP Ledger was one of the projects selected for LEAP (Experimentation, Learning and Prototyping Laboratory), which is being administered by the CVM in partnership with Fenasbac. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Stablecoins are the clearest cut use case for crypto in Brazil over the next six months, Polygon’s new director of Onchain Finance Growth in the country Thamilla Talarico told Exame.
Brazilian crypto exchange Monnos appears to have ceased operations, leaving a broken website, deleted social media accounts and a flood of complaints on Reclame Aqui. (Livecoins)
📲 Adoption
Several of Brazil’s largest football teams announced a new NFT staking product with Chiliz. Flamengo, Palmeiras, Vasco da Gama, Internacional and Sao Paulo are participating in the activation. Bruno Pessoa, country manager for Chiliz in Brazil, said:
"This campaign, conceived and created jointly with our partner clubs and the Gotas Social platform, is another step toward innovation and integration of the most pioneering technology into the sports world and reinforces the Chiliz Group's commitment to increasingly fostering the SportFi ecosystem.” (Exame)
Tether announced that it will mine bitcoins in Brazil using energy from biogas thermoelectric plants in Mato Grosso do Sul, via its Adecoagro subsidiary. (Folha de S. Paulo)
Brazil won’t privatize Pix in response to pressure from the Trump Administration, which claims that the platform unfairly competes with card networks like Mastercard and Visa. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Meliuz announced American Mason Foard as its new director of bitcoin strategy. (Livecoins)
Brazilian bitcoin developer Davidson Souza is one of the authors of three official bitcoin improvement proposals that aim to make it easier to run a full bitcoin node. (Portal do Bitcoin)
Bitcoin functions similar to cash but with “digital anonymity”, former Central Bank president Gustavo Franco said in an interview with Globo. In his view, its role is to serve the underground economy. He said:
"The underground economy is huge worldwide, and this type of currency serves this economy, which is incompatible with the regular financial system. That's why there's so much demand; it's the same as cash.” (Livecoins)
Apura Cyber Intelligence released a report detailing how actors infiltrated the Central Bank’s reserve accounts via the C&M Software hack. (Livecoins)
🏛 Policy, Regulation and Enforcement
“Pharaoh of Bitcoins” Glaidson Acacio dos Santos and 11 others will stand trial for the murder of Wesley Pessano, a rival cryptocurrency broker who was shot and killed in his luxury car outside of a Rio de Janeiro barbershop in August, 2021. (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (Portal do Bitcoin)
400 investors lost R$50 million in an apparent pyramid scheme called Melchior e Medeiros in Ponta Grossa. The scheme promised 30% monthly returns trading futures on Binance. (Portal do bitcoin)
Antônio Inácio Neto and Fabrícia Campos, the co-creators of the Braiscompany bitcoin pyramid scheme, had a child in Argentina last month and are using this as a means to seek freedom. (Portal do Bitcoin)