Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil, has officially signed off a bill that will allow the regulated trade of cryptocurrencies within the country.
The Brazilian President signed the bill yesterday to complete a crypto regulatory framework the country has been mulling over as early as last April. The bill, among other things, will allow Bitcoin trading and payments in Brazil.
Bolsonaro and Congress approved of the bill without any alterations, becoming one of the first South American countries to officially recognise Bitcoin as a form of payment and as an investment asset.
The bill released to confirm the new crypto law defines crypto as a “digital representation of value that can be negotiated or transferred electronically, and used for payments or as an investment”.
The bill continues: “It will be incumbent upon a body or entity of the federal Public Administration defined in an act of the Executive Branch to establish which financial assets will be regulated, for the purposes of this Law.”
With the crypto law going into effect in 180 days from now, it also stresses that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcon are not legal tender within Brazil.
The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) is believed to have oversight of Bitcoin’s payment usage, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) being in charge of crypto’s investment activity.
The new crypto laws comes off the back that exchange platform Crypto.com gained a Payment Institution Licence from the BCB last week, allowing the firm to operate its fiat wallet service and Visa Crypto.com card under Brazilian guidelines.
Brazil outlined in its new crypto regulation that “virtual asset service providers may only operate in the country with prior authorisation from a federal public administration body or entity”.
“Brazil and the entire Latin America market is a significant region in the pursuit of our vision of cryptocurrency in every wallet,” commented Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com.
