Brazil’s Senate Approves “Bitcoin Law”

Brazil’s Senate has approved the country’s first regulatory bill to govern crypto trading, also called the “Bitcoin Law.”  

Bitcoin Law Coming Before 2023

After a long wait, Brazil’s ‘Bitcoin Law’ was finally approved by the Senate in a plenary session. This will set the foundation for establishing a proper framework of crypto regulations in the country. In the next step, the bill will be reviewed for approval by the Chamber of Deputies. Once approved by the Chamber, it will need a final sign-off from President Jair Bolsonaro to become a law finally. Experts believe that these final stages of the materialization of the ‘Bitcoin Law’ will happen by the end of the year. 

Following the approval, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco commented, 

“I want to congratulate the rapporteur of the project, Senator Irajá, for the approval, here in the Plenary of the Senate, for this important bill.”

Senate Discusses The Bill

The bill was first proposed all the way back in 2015 by Federal Deputy Aureo Ribeiro. The bill was approved by the country’s House of Representatives in December 2021. Earlier this year, the bill passed a key stage in the legislative process and was approved by the Brazilian Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee. Finally, a lengthy deliberation on Tuesday saw the merging of the Ribeiro bill with Senator Arns’s bill, following which it was discussed that the country’s executive branch would be charged with the responsibility of regulating crypto. The executive branch could thereby establish a new regulator or assign the task to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) or the Central Bank of Brazil (BBC). 

One of the bill’s authors, Senator Arns, highlighted the need to focus on penalizing crypto offenses, saying, 

“The penalties must be proportionate to the amount of value affected by this type of crime. So whoever committed a crime of US $1 billion causing damage to thousands of people would have a greater penalty than the someone who affected less value.”

Rio’s BTC Investment

The approval of the Crypto Bill would indicate positive momentum for many organizations and cities in the country that have already benefited from hitching their wagons to crypto. The Rio Innovation Week held in January 2022 saw several pro-crypto figures talking about using crypto and blockchain tech in planning Brazil’s progress. For example, the mayor of Rio De Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, had declared that the city would be investing 1% of its treasury into BTC, becoming the first Brazilian city to do so. The mayor hopes to build Rio into another crypto hub, similar to Miami in North America. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.