In a plenary session, Brazil’s Senate has approved the Bitcoin law which is the country’s first measure toward controlling cryptocurrencies and also providing a regulatory framework crypto business.
To become law in Brazil, the bill must be approved by the Chamber of Deputies and then signed by President Jair Bolsonaro. According to specialists who spoke with Cointelegraph Brazil, this is predicted to happen before the end of 2022.
Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco presided over the session that authorized the project, saying:
“I want to congratulate the rapporteur of the project, Senator Irajá, for the approval, here in the Plenary of the Senate, for this important bill.”
Senator Ribeiro’s bill was then combined with Senator Arns’ bill PL 3825/2019, for which Senator Irajá Abreu was the rapporteur, and adopted by the Senate on April 26 after extensive consideration.
During the debate, the Senate confirmed that the country’s executive branch would be in charge of developing crypto-asset regulations, with the option of creating a new regulator or delegating authority to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) or the Central Bank of Brazil (BC).
Sanctions for crypto crimes
Several senators, including the bill’s author, Senator Arns, focused discussion on suitable sanctions for crypto crimes, particularly fraud, during the conference.
Senator Arns believes that the severity of the sanctions should be proportional to the amount of fraud, money laundering, and other white-collar crimes committed. He stated, “
“The penalties must be proportionate to the amount of value affected by this type of crime. So whoever committed a crime of US $1 billion causing damage to thousands of people would have a greater penalty than the someone who affected less value.”
Senator Rose de Freitas welcomed Senator Arns’ motion, claiming that the Brazilian market already trades more than $40 billion and calling for harsher penalties for crimes involving cryptocurrency.
Senators encourage mining in Brazil
Senators also considered enticing crypto miners to set up shop in Brazil by providing a complete tax exemption for the importation of ASIC mining machines.
According to Bernardo Schucman, senior vice president of CleanSpark’s digital currencies section, the cryptocurrency industry needs specific legislation so that institutional investors who are risk-averse are encouraged and safeguarded by participating in crypto mining in South America’s largest country. He stated
“Regulation is very welcome [and] the trend is for Brazil to follow the largest economies in the world and facilitate the mining of these coins on Brazilian soil.”
The bill appears to have few opponents in the Chamber of Deputies, where it must be passed in a plenary session before being sent to President Bolsinaro to become law.
