Brazil legislated first and regulated later. Law 14,478 of 2022, the Legal Framework for Virtual Assets, defined virtual assets and service providers, created a specific crime of fraud involving virtual assets, and left the operating rules to the designated regulator, which a 2023 decree confirmed as the Banco Central do Brasil, with the CVM keeping jurisdiction over tokens that are securities. The operating rules arrived in November 2025 as a package of BCB resolutions and entered into force on February 2, 2026: virtual asset service providers must obtain central bank authorization under fit-and-proper, capital, governance, and segregation requirements, with transition windows for incumbents, and stablecoin and crypto transactions linked to foreign currency are integrated into the foreign-exchange regulatory perimeter, a globally distinctive move reflecting how dollar-stablecoin flows dominate Brazilian volume.
Brazil is Latin America's largest crypto market, with deep stablecoin usage, a bank-integrated exchange sector, and a Drex central bank infrastructure project that dropped its blockchain pilot in late 2025. Tax policy has churned without changing the core rule. A 2025 provisional measure that would have replaced the R$35,000 monthly exemption with a flat 17.5% tax lapsed in October 2025 after the Chamber of Deputies pulled it, so the exemption stands, and since July 1, 2026 Receita Federal's DeCripto rules require monthly reporting by crypto service providers.
The central bank tightened the regime again on September 23, 2026 with two resolutions published the next day. Resolution BCB 588 makes reporting to the financial intelligence unit, Coaf, mandatory for virtual asset transfers to or from self-custody wallets worth US$10,000 or more, from October 1, 2026. Resolution BCB 589 amends the VASP framework: authorized institutions may not deal with unauthorized virtual asset providers from November 6, 2026, and from January 1, 2027 providers must report client balances, custody holdings in Brazil and abroad, proof of reserves, and assets committed to staking.
The instruments
Legal Framework for Virtual Assets
Defines virtual assets and VASPs, sets principles of governance, segregation, and consumer protection, criminalizes fraud with virtual assets, and delegates authorization and supervision of non-securities crypto activity to the Banco Central do Brasil.
BCB authorization regime for VASPs
Requires central bank authorization for virtual asset service providers, sets capital, governance, custody, and segregation standards, integrates stablecoin and FX-linked crypto transactions into the foreign-exchange framework, and provides transition periods for firms already operating. Resolution 589 (September 2026) bars authorized institutions from dealing with unauthorized providers from November 6, 2026 and expands supervisory reporting from January 1, 2027; Resolution 588 requires Coaf reports on self-custody transfers of US$10,000 or more from October 1, 2026.