Brazil's | Crypto

Itaú Unibanco said it teamed up with tokenization specialist OpenAssets to test tokenized bonds and funds in a pilot run by Brazil's financial watchdog ANBIMA.

A new report maps Brazil's push to bring its vast crypto market under formal supervision by October 30.

Washington views Brazil’s promotion of non-dollar payment channels, including Pix and the growth of stablecoins, as a potential threat to dollar-based trade, even as dollar-linked stablecoins account for about 90% of Brazil's crypto transactions.

The contracts are regulated by Brazil's securities regulator and designed for professional investors with at least 10 million reais ($1.9 million) in assets.

The South American country will hold its presidential election in October 2026, and incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is running for re-election. Brazil’s Finance Minister, Dario Durigan, is putting crypto tax policy on the back burner until after the country’s presidential elections in October 2026 to avoid pushing for “divisive” tax changes during an election year.  Regulators and government officials originally slated a public consultation on crypto tax policy for later this year, which may be delayed until 2027, but still “remains on the radar,” sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Brazil ended its no tax policy on gains from smaller cryptocurrency sales or transfers in June 2025, shifting to a 17.5% flat tax on crypto capital gains, including those made from offshore and self-custodial holdings. Read more

The Pix payment system is credited with driving crypto adoption in Argentina, according to a report from the Lemon crypto application. Banco Central do Brasil said on Friday that it expanded its Pix digital payments system to allow Brazilians living in Argentina to access the service to pay for goods, services and send payments in both countries. The central bank’s instant payments platform is accepted by major crypto platforms and service providers operating in Brazil for fiat onramping, including the Lemon crypto application, Binance Pay, Crypto.Com, the Mercado Bitcoin exchange and the Kraken crypto exchange. Argentina ranks as the number one country for crypto adoption per capita in LATAM, while Brazil ranks as number one in terms of total crypto value received, according to Lemon’s State of the Crypto Industry in Latin America 2025 report. Read more