#205: Receita Federal says 'No' to R$35,000 tax exemption
Plus: UnB partners with MIT Digital Currency Initiative; Santa Catarina prohibits property registration on blockchain
Olá pessoal!
Greetings from Mexico City and welcome back to Brazil Crypto Report for the week of August 25-29, 2025.
A big shout out is in order for the Bitso team who produced an incredible stablecoin conference in CDMX this past week. The timing of this event couldn’t have been better (a month after the Genius Act passage in the US), and the conference established stablecoin adoption in Latin America as the key meta narrative in crypto heading into the last quarter of the year.
What’s next on the event calendar? Ethereum Brasil is coming to Sao Paulo’s Morumbi Stadium (home of the Sao Paulo Football Club) on September 10-11. BCR is excited to be a media partner for this event - I hope to see you all there.
I also wanted to flag that Stellar is hosting its annual Meridian conference in Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro on September 17-18. I’ll be speaking at the event, and I encourage everyone to plan on attending if you’re able as it’s shaping up to be a great crowd. You can access general admission tickets at this link for just US$29,
👊 Jump into the BCR English language Telegram group if you’d like to continue the conversation
📰 Top Stories this Week
University of Brasilia partners with MIT Digital Currency Initiative
Santa Catarina prohibits property registration on blockchain
Receita Federal defends crypto tax increase, end of de minimus exemption
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
- AWS
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🎙️New Podcasts!
This week’s episode is with Guilherme Bettanin, Brazil Country Lead for Base - the Ethereum Layer 2 incubated by Coinbase.
We talk about how Base has become the largest Ethereum Layer 2 network by virtually every significant measurement by creating a great experience for both builders and end users alike, as well as Guilherme’s aggressive plans to grow the Base ecosystem in Brazil.
I also recorded a mini-episode in Mexico City with Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO of Borderless.xyz, which is building a single API for global stablecoin liquidity, payment rails and FX.
University of Brasilia partners with MIT Digital Currency Initiative
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Digital Currency Initiative launched its DCI Global network to support universities and non-profits dedicated to bitcoin research and education.
The project’s first collaboration is with the University of Brasilia, where professor Edil Medeiros has been teaching courses on bitcoin. He told Portal do Bitcoin that there was a niche in the academic realm to focus specifically on bitcoin and crypto more broadly:
“The current focus is practically entirely on Artificial Intelligence, and no one was addressing the topic of cryptocurrencies in a more systematic way, so it was a well-received initiative among my colleagues.”
Edil will continue to build out bitcoin-related coursework with support from DCI Global, and will bring international experts to teach courses and make courses available under an open source license.
Santa Catarina prohibits property registration on blockchain
State authorities published a rule banning the linkage of property registrations to digital tokens, blockchain representations or other extra-registry instruments.
The change was made at the request of the Brazilian Real Estate Registry, which noted that the ban does not rule out use of blockchain in the future but prohibits the activity until there is proper legislation or regulation in place.
ABToken said in a statement:
"ABToken understands that the mobile property registration service is essential and directly linked to the legal security required for transactions involving real estate. However, blockchain technology reinforces these points and is undeniably one of the most important infrastructures in recent years.
"The ban on real estate tokenization through a measure motivated by a lack of knowledge of the positive social and economic impacts of tokenization represents a huge setback.”
Portal do Bitcoin Exame BlockNews BeinCrypto CriptoFacil CoinTelegraph Brasil
Receita Federal defends crypto tax increase
The Receita Federal, Brazil’s tax authority, defended the government’s push to do away with the a R$35,000 monthly exemption on crypto capital gains taxes.
Robinson Barreirinhas, special secretary of the Receita Federal, said during a hearing in the Chamber of Deputies that the exemption was never intended to be used for cryptocurrencies and that it is not reasonable to equate the stock market to crypto.
"This exemption is very old; it was created for when you sell a vehicle. No one was thinking about crypto when it was created. The rule for real estate gains, when you pay tax on profits from the sale of real estate, applies strictly to all assets. And why did we never pay when we sold a car? Because the legislator established a R$35,000 exemption with that in mind, not investments.”
Provisional Measure 1,303/2025 proposes to unify the tax rate on all crypto investments at 17.5%, doing away with the monthly exemption.
Several deputies, including Aureo Ribeiro and Jorge Seif criticized the changes, arguing that the government doesn’t understand the technology and that it is pushing Brazilians to use overseas platforms.
Barreirinhas argued that the new rule would benefit crypto investors by clarifying the rules:
“There's currently legal uncertainty: people who invest in crypto don't know whether it's a capital gain or a return. That's over. It's 17.5% for everything, regardless of whether it's a capital gain or a return.”
Crypto tax law expert Daniel de Paiva Gomes, speaking on behalf of ABCripto during the hearing, argued that the new proposed tax rates run counter to the government’s stated motivation of generating more revenue.
Monthly transactions over R$10 million were taxed at a rate between 20% and 22.5% under the previous regime, and would now be taxed at 17.5%.
"If the focus is on taxing the super-rich, we're going against that.”
Gomes also argued that the government should instead broaden the tax base by regulating the sector and allowing the creation of new products:
“Instead of increasing taxes, why not seek to broaden the tax base with new regulated products? We propose regulating perpetual crypto derivatives, which are securities and cannot be traded in Brazil and have an estimated annual revenue of half a billion.”
Crypto tax accountant Ana Paula Rabello pointed out that MP 1303 removes the exemption for 90% of crypto investors in Brazil while preserving the exemption for equities traders. She argued that this is a clear disparity in tax treatment and constitutes a politically motivated burden on the crypto sector
It’s important to note that the PM must be approved by Congress before October 9 to ward off legal uncertainty and litigation.
Portal do Bitcoin Portal do Bitcoin CriptoFacil BeinCrypto CoinTelegraph Brasil
🗞Brazil Crypto News Rundown
📈 Markets
Crypto exchange MEXC has formally launched in Brazil, offering 4,000 tokens, low fees and even zero fees on promotional trading pairs. Country manager Andre Sprone told Exame that the platform is looking to bring tokenization and payment products to the local market as well:
"Latin America and Brazil were chosen for this reason. It's a market very open to innovation. Brazil has many emerging cryptocurrency projects, and we want to support them with educational initiatives, products, and a launch platform for new tokens.”
6.6 million customers have purchased crypto through Nubank, primarily from millennials and Gen Z clients which account for 84% of Nubank Cripto users. (Exame)
BRX Finance launched what it calls FIDC 3.0, a securitization vehicle that uses tokenization of receivables and smart contracts for Credit Rights Investment vehicles, known in Portuguese as FIDCs. This innovation cuts structuring time from months to weeks, enables near-instant liquidity, slashes credit costs by up to 60%, and enhances transparency. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
PicPay added three new tokens to its app: Hyperliquid (HYPE), Cardano (ADA) and Sui, bringing its grand total to 15. (Valor Investe) (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
Valor explored how stablecoins have been gaining ground as a payment option in Brazil recently. USD-backed coins accounted for 80% of all crypto trading volume in 2024, and in the first 7 months of 2025 the volume of USDT (R$52.6 billion) is more than double that of bitcoin (R$24.8 billion). Bernardo Srur, CEO of ABCripto, explained:
"The recent increase in the IOF [exchange tax] reignited the discussion, but this upward trend in stablecoins had already been occurring organically due to the market's own maturity.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
BEE4, the blockchain-based trading platform that allows small and medium-sized companies to enter capital markets, launched its first edition of Rota Facil - a program that will subsidize the listing costs for Brazilian companies. BEE4 will select 10 companies that will have listing costs, annual audit services and legal advice covered. Small companies with annual revenues of up to R$500 million will be able to raise capital in a simplified manner. Rodrigo Fiszman, co-founding partner and chair of BEE4, said:
"This is perhaps the most important regulatory milestone since the creation of public limited companies in 1976, because it effectively democratizes the capital markets for small and medium-sized businesses.” (Valor) (BlockNews) (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
The B3 exchange is now offering the TOSB01 token, which is backed by a real estate transaction involving a residential condominium in Bauru, Sao Paulo. It’s part of a partnership with investment crowdfunding platform Zuvia. Zuvia Co-CEO and Co-Founder Jonatas Montanini told BlockNews:
"In the TOSB01 primary offering, completed on August 18th through our tokenization and crowdfunding platform, we made investment accessible to anyone in a fractionalized and regulated manner. Today (25th), we launched this asset on the B3 subsequent market. This allows investors who participated in the initial fundraising to now trade their tokens with liquidity and transparency.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
📲 Adoption
Crypto usage in Latin America has grown by 9x in the last three years, according to a new report published by Dune Analytics. (Portal do Bitcoin)
Chiliz launched a blockchain-based fan token competition via its FanX platform ahead of the Palmeiras vs. Corinthians derby. The activation generated nearly R$600,000 in trading volume involving 1,565 transactions by 173 traders, and paid out US$10,000 in total prizes. (BeinCrypto) (CriptoFacil)
BlindPay says it has launched the world’s first bridge that integrates stablecoins with the SWIFT system. Bernardo Simonassi, CEO and founder of BlindPay, said:
"SWIFT is the backbone of international transfers and remains essential for its reliability and reach. By connecting it to the stablecoin universe, we've created a unique infrastructure that simplifies international payments, reduces costs, and expands global access to digital financial services.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
🏛 Policy, Regulation and Enforcement
Federal Deputy Aureo Ribeiro criticized the government’s Provisional Measure that does away with the R$35,000 exemption on cryptocurrency taxation. He said that the government has “very little knowledge on the subject” and is “working against the grain”:
"I've already expressed my opposition because I understand that this is taking Brazilians and placing them in the international market, preventing them from transacting here in our country.” (Portal do Bitcoin)
Rio de Janeiro Attorney General Antonio José Campos Moreira is focusing on cracking down on use of cryptocurrencies by gangs in the state. He described the massive reach of these criminal organizations:
"It's billions of dollars, and most of these amounts are converted into cryptocurrencies.” (Portal do Bitcoin)
Brazil’s new 17.5% tax on crypto capital gains is part of a broader global initiative by governments to extract more money out of crypto investors, Koinly CEO Robin Lingh argues. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
“Sheik of Bitcoins” Francisley Valdevino de Silva invested R$30 million (US$5.4 million) in partnership with Pastor Silas Malafaia, according to a witness in the Sheik’s trial. (Metropoles) (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
The Chamber of Deputies hosted a stablecoin regulation seminar on August 28th, featuring participation by Ripple, the Central Bank and others. (Portal do Bitcoin) (Portal do Bitcoin) (BlockNews)
Federal Police launched Operation Decrypted against a Brazilian criminal group accused of stealing ~US$2.6 million from a US-based crypto exchange. (Portal do Bitcoin) (Valor) (BeinCrypto) (CoinTelegraph Brasil)