The Central Bank of Brazil is tightening oversight over the activities of crypto businesses operating in the country. On November 10, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) released rules to monitor the virtual digital assets sector that requires firms from the sector to upgrade their cybersecurity and risk management systems among other instructions.
Brazil’s crypto fabric seems to be on a rapid growth trajectory with players like Binance, Chainlink, and FalconX stepping into the market. Owing to this visible growth in the sector, the financial regulators there are taking steps to ensure that those engaging with digital assets are safeguarded against crimes, hacks, scams, and financial losses.
Crypto firms looking to operate in Brazil will now need to secure an official authorization from the BCB, details released about the regulations said. This authorization will only be granted after the companies have justified lawful origin, service viability, financial capacity, and technical tenacity related to the service.
As part of the compliance requirements, crypto and other digital asset firms have been mandated to maintain transparency in consumer relationships and comply with anti-money laundering and counter terror financing regimes.
Additionally, the establishment of internal security controls to detect cyber threats and providing information related to suspicious activities have been named among the obligations and responsibilities of virtual digital asset firms.
The rule has specified that virtual asset transactions to unauthorized counterparties will be capped at $100,000. This is to curb instances of fraudulent activities and scams. The BCB has also termed stablecoin transactions and certain self-custody wallet transfers as foreign-exchange procedures.
The rules are slated to be made live in February 2026. The existing crypto firms in Brazil have been granted a window of nine months to bring their operations in alignment with BCB’s rules.