Brazil approves bill to regulate crypto 1

TL; DR Breakdown

• Brazil approves crypto regulation bill
• The SEC might oversee the regulation
• Senators want to encourage high value investors

Brazil has announced the passing of the a bill that seeks to guide usage of crypto assets. The bill was given the green light at a Senate session yesterday. Should the bill get final approval, it will set the center stage for creating a framework that the crypto sector of Brazil will follow. In order to be signed into law, it needs to get a sign-off from the Chamber of Deputies before an official ink to paper by president Jair Bolsonaro.

Brazil SEC might oversee the regulation

According to several reports, the plenary session where the bill was given the green light was led by the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco. During the discussion, Pacheco congratulated the rapporteur behind the proposal, Senator Iraja, for approving an ‘important’ bill.

The bill was initially brought to the Senate’s attention by the proposer, Aureo Ribeiro, in 2015. At the hearing, the Senate agreed that the executive arm of the Brazilian government would oversee and drum up regulations to guide the sector. Furthermore, the Senate noted that should the executive delegate the task to another agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Central bank would be a suitable option.

Senators want to encourage institutional investors

There were also discussions bordering on punishments for going against rules that will be carved up. The brain behind the proposal talked about the punishments meted out to malicious actors. In his opinion, the Senator mentioned that each punishment should be according to the gravity of the crime committed. For example, the Senator highlighted that anybody who commits an offense involving $10 billion would face a stiffer penalty compared to $1 million.

Other senators also agreed with the Senator, with most of them suggesting crypto should be given special attention. They also indicated that they could encourage miners to set up operating centers, going by the previous tax exemption for equipment importation rule. Other parties also advised special consideration to incentivize high-value clients to enter the market. They mentioned that Brazil following the steps of other countries by coming up with a regulation to govern the sector is a big win. However, they can do more by enabling miners to create tokens. The bill is predicted to go through smoothly, with all onus resting on the president to sign off on the bill.