Congress of Brazil approves the new crypto bill, goes to Senate

Crypto has made it big this year, in terms of transactions as well as adoption. So much so that many countries are seriously looking into the technology and preparing its regulatory measures. Recently, the Congress of Brazil has approved the new crypto bill which will go to the Senate now.

The Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of Brazil has cleared the new proposed legislation. The bill aims to bring clarity to crypto regulation in the country. Identified as Bill 2303/15, it establishes definitions for exchanges and virtual currencies. Moreover, it defines the need for a central body to oversee all crypto-based operations.

As of now, the bill will move towards the Senate who’ll take the decision of passing it into law. Currently, it doesn’t mention cryptocurrencies via their name. In fact, the regulation uses the term “virtual currencies”. However, the project clarifies that it doesn’t affect the digital representations of the national fiat currency.

Moving towards crypto-related crime, the text has specified penalties for it. Also, it has established a new penalty for exchanges or parties illegally managing crypto portfolios for third parties. Moreover, the crime will come under embezzlement, punishable for 4-8 years in prison and fines.

Although the bill establishes a central regulator, it cannot name it explicitly for legal reasons. However, the rapporteur of the commission, Expedito Netto stated that it’s most likely to be the nation’s central bank.

If the bill gets approved, Brazil will join the list of countries having dedicated rules for crypto assets. Besides Brazil, the list includes El Salvador with its “Bitcoin Law” and Paraguay which had introduced its own crypto bill in July.

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