🇧🇷 Crypto licence in Brazil

The regime

Law 14,478 — Brazil's crypto framework, in force June 2023 — made the Banco Central do Brasil the regulator for virtual asset service providers. The BCB's implementing rules created a VASP authorisation regime, with the first licence cohort processing through 2025-26 and existing operators grandfathered while applications run.

Brazil is Latin America's largest crypto market by volume, with deep stablecoin usage in payments and remittances; tokens that qualify as securities remain with the CVM, the securities commission.

Requirements

• BCB authorisation as a virtual asset service provider under Law 14,478 and its implementing resolutions (exchange, custody, brokerage in scope).
• Local entity and governance: Brazilian incorporation, fit-and-proper management, and minimum capital per the BCB's rules by activity.
• Segregation: separation of customer assets from the firm's own, a core demand written in after FTX.
• AML/CTF: COAF reporting, KYC and monitoring under Brazil's AML law.
• Securities tokens: CVM oversight applies where an asset is a security (public offerings, tokenized receivables platforms).

Licensed firms

Names in the Brazilian regime:

• Mercado Bitcoin — the largest domestic exchange, in the BCB authorisation cohort
• Binance — acquired the CVM-approved broker-dealer Sim;paul (approved January 2025) to build its licensed Brazilian stack

Snapshot, not the register: verify current status against BCB authorised institutions before relying on it.

Who regulates crypto in Brazil?

The Banco Central do Brasil for virtual-asset services under Law 14,478; the CVM where tokens are securities. The BCB authorisation regime is the operating licence.

Can foreign exchanges serve Brazil?

Serving the Brazilian market requires BCB authorisation via a local entity as the regime phases in; global exchanges have been building licensed local stacks through acquisitions and subsidiaries.