The Senate approved today (26) a project that brings the regulation of the national cryptocurrency market. The proposal provides guidelines for the “provision of virtual asset services” and regulates the operation of companies providing these services. The text returns to the Chamber of Deputies.
Cryptocurrencies are a completely digital type of money, traded over the internet. The accelerated growth of this market around the world has raised concerns about its use for money laundering in the face of insufficient regulation. For the new market to work, providers of virtual assets services will have to obtain prior authorization “from an agency or entity of the Federal Public Administration”.
According to the approved text, a virtual asset is “the digital representation of value that can be traded or transferred by electronic means and used to make payments or for investment purposes”, with the exception of traditional national currencies and assets already regulated by law. . The Executive Branch will have to appoint an agency of the Federal Public Administration to define which financial assets will be regulated by the future law.
The provision of virtual assets service will have to follow some guidelines, such as the obligation to control and keep the client’s resources in a segregated way. It will also have to adopt good governance practices, transparency in operations and a risk-based approach; information security and protection of personal data; protection and defense of consumers and users; protection of popular savings; solidity and efficiency of operations.
It will also be required to prevent money laundering, concealment of assets, rights and values, combat the activities of criminal organizations, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in line with international standards.
The regulation will not apply to NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). According to the rapporteur of the approved substitute, Senator Irajá (PSD-TO), the NFT, a kind of digital certificate of a service, may be regulated by the Executive in an act subsequent to the approval of the project.
*With information from the Senate Agency
