Brazil to impose harsher penalties on crypto crimes

Brazil has approved a bill that will impose harsher penalties on financial crimes that involve cryptocurrency.

Digital assets like Bitcoin have been used in many crypto-related financial crimes in South America, and the Brazilian government looks set to crack down on the issue.

The updated amendments of the bill include raising the size of fines from one-third of the laundered money to two-thirds.

Money laundering in Brazil has long been a major problem and, with the increasing popularity of cryptocurrency, crypto-related scams are becoming more predominant in the country.

Aureo Ribeiro, federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro, said the bill would help protect the Brazilian people.

“With the lack of regulation, people have nowhere to turn,” Ribeiro said.

“The market will advance and adjust in Brazil. There will no longer be profiteers using technology to deceive millions of Brazilians.”

Ribeiro added that, once the bill has been passed, Brazil will follow in the path of El Salvador and make Bitcoin a currency of payment.

The bill also includes the regulation of trading, payments, and fiat currency as Brazil heads toward a crypto-centric future – a future that Roberto Campos Neto, president of the Central Bank of Brazil, is in favour of.

“The financial market is changing so much that it’s all becoming data. We need to reshape the world of regulation,” Campos Neto said.