Brazilian Senate approved the recently submitted cryptocurrency policy. This will allow the project to be discussed in the deputy chamber.For the proposed law to become effective, it will need to be approved by Congress’ deputies. It must also be signed by President Jairbolsonaro. This project is the product of the amalgamation of multiple law projects that deal with crypto.
Brazilian Senate endorses Crypto Law Project
The Brazilian Senate has greenlighted a cryptocurrency law project that seeks to give more clarity and protect users from different cryptocurrency-related scams that have happened in the country. This project now moves to the Chamber of Deputies. It will then be debated and approved or rejected by this chamber.
The projects that had been presented previously were used to develop the project. Some parts were borrowed from other projects and others taken from them. Senator Flávio Arns, senator Styvenson Valentim, senator Soraya Thronicke, and federal deputy Aureo Ribeiro all contributed to the final text. The institution had previously announced this to local media, stating that it was working towards approving a cryptocurrency law by the end of Q2.
During the discussion of the law project Iraja Abreu, raportor stated:
We advanced the discussions of the report so that we could here today finally vote on this matter of regulation of crypto assets… The central bank was constantly demanding Congress to position ourselves in relation to a regulatory framework that could understand the dimension of this new business environment.
Project Law Dispositions
Brazilian senators approved the cryptocurrency law project. It establishes the idea of virtual assets service providers (VASPs) and cryptocurrencies, but gives the executive branch the power to name the institution that will oversee them. This was the Central Bank of Brasil in previous iterations of this project. This will allow the executive branch to either assign them to an already existing organisation or to create one for these purposes.
Because of their unique characteristics, the topic of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), was not covered by the regulation. However, the document does amend the penal code of the country to include a new crime, denominated “fraud in the provision of services of virtual assets, securities, or financial assets,” with penalties going from imprisonment from two to six years plus fines.
This document proposes tax incentives for crypto mining operations using 100% renewable energy and becoming carbon neutral.
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