Brazil Advances Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrency and Crack Down on Their Usage in Money Laundering

A bill is advancing through Brazil's House of Representatives to regulate cryptocurrency in the country. It has been in development since 2015. Last week, Brazil’s Câmara dos Deputados (Special Committee of the Chamber of Deputies) approved a bill that will require virtual asset service providers operating in the country to register with an entity of the government that will be defined in the future. The bill further creates clearer definitions of crypto and will no longer regulate frequent flyer programs, which were included in the original project, noted Saori Honorato, a journalist on local crypto media publication. According to the local reports, the bill also aims to crack down on crypto crimes. It focuses on those using crypto to launder money in the country and imposes higher fines and harsher prison sentences on them. The bill increases the penalty for laundering money to 66%, from the previous 33%, which means those individuals and groups caught laundering money via crypto will have to surrender two-thirds of their funds. As for the prison terms, currently, the sentence for money laundering is three to ten years, but the updated rules will also raise this to a minimum of four years and a maximum of 16 years and eight months, in addition to the fine. The proposal has now moved to the Plenary of the Chamber, and if approved there, it will further move to the Senate to be discussed, and if approved there as well, it will finally go to the president.