Brazilian Senate to Hold Public Hearing on Crypto Regulation

The Brazilian Senate will hold a public hearing on crypto regulation after a lawmaker launched a fresh bid to “update” the nation’s legislation.

Per the official news agency of the Brazilian Senate (via Vamos Adiante), the hearing will be hosted by the upper house of parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee.

Brazilian Senate Wants to Hear from Regulators, Crypto Industry

The hearing comes after Senator Soraya Thronicke of the Podemos Party unveiled a private member’s bill that seeks to police the way virtual assets service providers (VASPs) issue coins, hold tokens, and process settlements.

Fellow lawmaker Senator Rogerio Carvalho responded by calling for a public hearing, with the committee adhering to his request on Wednesday March 19.

Carvalho is the leader of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) party in the Senate. The PT is part of the governing coalition that supports President Lula.

The PT leader said that lawmakers need to consult with “experts and representatives of the public and private sectors” before legislating.

Carvalho said that the rapid and “accelerated growth” rate of “the virtual assets market in the country” meant a public hearing was essential.

Senator Calls for ‘Technical Analysis’

The Senator said legislators needed to conduct a “technical, in-depth analysis of the implications” of Thronicke’s bill.

He said this would help “guarantee legal security and transparency, as well as customer and investor protection.”

Carvalho added that crypto is starting to play an increasingly “relevant role” in the “digital economy.”

The Senate said it was yet to set a date for the hearing. But it said that “representatives from four institutions” would “be invited to participate.”

These include two regulators, namely the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM).

The Senate’s release also named two industry groups as potential attendees: the Brazilian Association of Cryptoeconomics (ABCripto) and the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (Anbima).

‘Time to Step up Crypto Regulation in Brazil’

Thronicke has been one of the Brazilian Senate’s most outspoken proponents of crypto regulation.

In August 2020, she unveiled a bill the proposed placing the BCB and the CVM in charge of policing the Brazilian crypto markets.

She made further efforts to launch crypto regulation in 2022 and 2024. Her latest bill proposes obliging all crypto exchanges and brokerages operating in Brazil to apply for operating permits.

This law would also apply to exchanges based overseas who provide services to Brazilian residents.

Thronicke has claimed her bill would “bring more transparency and security to the crypto sector.”

It would also oblige exchanges to keep their own coins and fiat separate from those of their customers.

Crypto adoption is on the rise in Brazil, where a recent Bitso study revealed a 6% rise in crypto exchange customer numbers.

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