Brazil’s central bank unveiled long-awaited rules for virtual assets on Monday, extending anti–money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism financing (CTF) obligations to crypto firms and classifying fiat-pegged crypto transactions as foreign-exchange operations, Reuters reported.
Policymakers said the rules respond to a surge in crypto use, especially stablecoins, and growing concerns that dollar-linked tokens are being used to skirt more supervised payment rails. Central bank governor Gabriel Galipolo has previously flagged rising illicit-finance risks tied to virtual assets, the news agency said.
“New rules will reduce the scope for scams, fraud, and the use of virtual asset markets for money laundering,” said Gilneu Vivan, the bank’s director of regulation, in the report.
Under the new framework, any purchase, sale or exchange of virtual assets pegged to fiat currency will be treated as an FX transaction. The same classification will apply to international payments or transfers made with virtual assets, including those settling obligations via cards or other electronic methods, according to the report.
The shift puts many stablecoin uses under the same supervisory and reporting expectations as cross-border currency operations, the news outlet said.
The central bank is also extending existing rules on customer protection and transparency to virtual-asset service providers, or VASPs.
Read more at Reuters