Brazilian Senate Approves 'Bitcoin Law' to Regulate Cryptocurrencies

The Brazilian Senate has passed the country's first bill governing cryptocurrencies in plenary session, which will lay the groundwork for creating a regulatory framework for the country's crypto industry.

The bill must be approved by the House of Representatives and then signed by President Jair Bolsonaro before it becomes law in the country. According to experts interviewed by Cointelegraph Brazil, this is expected to happen by the end of 2022.

The meeting to approve the project was chaired by Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco, who said:

"I would like to congratulate the rapporteur on this project, Senator Irajá, for passing this important bill in the plenary session of the Senate."

Federal MP Aureo Ribeiro first introduced the bill in 2015.

On April 26, the Senate approved the bill after a lengthy deliberation, merging Senator Ribeiro's bill with Senator Arns' bill PL 3825/2019, for which Senator Irajá Abreu is the rapporteur.

During the session, the Senate confirmed that the country’s executive branch will be in charge of setting the rules for crypto assets and could create a new regulator or delegate its authority to the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) or the Central Bank of Brazil (BC).

Several senators, including the bill's author, Arns, also focused on appropriate penalties for cryptocurrency crimes, specifically crypto fraud, at the meeting.

According to Senator Arns, penalties for such crimes should be graded according to the amount of fraud, money laundering and other white-collar crimes. He said:

"Penalties must be commensurate with the value affected by such crimes. So whoever commits a billion-dollar crime, causing damage to thousands of people, will suffer more than those who affect less value punish."

Senator Arns’ proposal is backed by Senator Rose de Freitas, who has called for stronger penalties for crimes involving cryptocurrencies.

The senators also discussed incentivizing crypto miners to set up shop in Brazil, where imports of ASIC mining equipment will be fully tax-free.

Bernardo Schucman, senior vice president of the digital currency department of US mining company CleanSpark, pointed out that the cryptocurrency market needs specific regulations so that risk-averse institutional investors feel encouraged and protected to invest in cryptocurrency mining in the largest country in South America. . He said:

“Regulation is very welcome and the trend in Brazil is to follow the world’s largest economy to promote cryptocurrency mining in Brazil.”

The bill doesn't appear to face many challenges in the House of Representatives, where it must pass in plenary session before being sent to President Bolsinaro to become law.

Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.