Brazilian Lawmaker Proposes Crypto Regulations for a Country Devoid of Any

A Brazilian lawmaker has proposed a series of cryptocurrency business laws that would, if passed, bring long-sought legal clarity to Brazil's oft-ostracized and wholly unregulated crypto scene.

• Senator Soraya Thronicke, a member of Brazil's Social Liberal Party, outlined on Monday rules for "virtual asset" businesses, custodians and issuers, consumer protections, crypto taxation, criminal enforcement and industry oversight in Brazil.
• Brazil's central bank, securities watchdog, tax agency and financial oversight board would all take on concrete supervisory roles for the nascent industry. Until now, their respective crypto actions have been scattershot at best.
• Pyramid schemers and crypto fraudsters would face new heat, too. Thronicke's draft law outlines stricter punishments and proposes amending Brazil's existing financial crimes laws to apply to crypto as well.
• Thronicke told Agencia Senado that her rules would effectively "extend the protection model already in force" for electronic currency services to cryptocurrencies.
• Brazilian cryptocurrency businesses have suffered from a lack of comprehensive crypto regulation, perhaps most notably through the banking sector's refusal to work with them.
• The legislation's passage "would mean a lot toward 'legalization and regulation' of the crypto economy" in Brazil, said Fernando de Magalhães Furlan, a former regulator who now lobbies for Brazil's crypto firms.