The President of Brazil signed a bill that would include many virtual assets under the definition of legal means of payment. But they wouldn’t become legal tender.
Brazil officially passed bill 14.478, which had already been dubbed the “Cryptocurrency Law.” It was signed by Jair Bolsonaro, President of the country. According to the text of the bill, many cryptocurrencies fall under the definition of legal payment methods. Additionally, the law approves a licensing regime for virtual asset service providers and establishes penalties for the fraudulent use of digital assets. The law goes into effect 180 days after the President signs it.
The bill defines a virtual asset as “a digital representation of value that can be negotiated or transferred electronically and used for payments or as an investment.” Bitcoin falls under this definition, so BTC can be used both as a means of payment and an investment asset. At the same time, the law doesn’t make BTC or any other crypto a legal tender in Brazil, i.e., businesses or government agencies aren’t required to accept digital assets as a payment method.
The cryptocurrency market in Brazil is developing very rapidly. Tellingly, in August this year, the Brazilian Secretariat of Federal Revenue registered a record number of companies with crypto-assets, and citizens declared over $2 billion worth of crypto-assets.
