Breaking: 🏛Brazil's Congress Approves Crypto Legislation

Law is approved seven years after being first proposed

Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has voted to approve PL 4401/21, legislation that would establish a regulatory regime for cryptocurrency businesses operating in the country.

The bill now heads to the desk of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is expected to sign it into law, per Portal do Bitcoin.

The text has been in the works for seven years now since being first proposed by Deputy Aureo Ribeiro. The bill first passed in the Chamber of Deputies in December of last year before being approved by the Senate last spring. It was then sent back to the Chamber, where several key Senate additions were removed.

Among the key parts removed was a requirement that crypto exchanges segregate customer funds, obviously a hot topic currently in light of FTX’s misuse of customer deposits. Also removed from the text was the so-called “transition rule” that would have required foreign exchanges to meet various compliance requirements immediately upon the bill’s enactment into law. Exchanges will instead have 180 days to bring themselves into compliance.

The law directs the Executive Branch to appoint a regulatory agency to oversee the crypto industry - widely accepted to be the Central Bank. It also contains provisions regarding consumer protection and anti-money laundering and will create a framework inline with international norms.

Per CoinTelegraph Brasil, Federal Deputy Expedito Netto, rapporteur for the bill, stated:

"Today I was voting on a historic matter not only for our country but for the world and Brazil is at the forefront of the world in debating this issue. I would like to congratulate my friend Aureo Ribeiro who was the proponent of this project."

Deputy Bibo Nunes also commented:

"We have to be on the side of cryptocurrency to be a viable currency for the world. A big date, a big day.”