Brazil’s central bank has finalized rules that bring crypto companies under banking-style oversight, classifying stablecoin transactions and certain self-custody wallet transfers as foreign-exchange operations.
Under Resolutions 519, 520 and 521, published Monday, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) established operational standards and authorization procedures for what it calls Sociedades Prestadoras de Serviços de Ativos Virtuais (SPSAVs), a new category of licensed virtual-asset service providers operating in the country.
The framework extends existing rules on consumer protection, transparency and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) to crypto brokers, custodians and intermediaries.
The rules will take effect on Feb. 2, 2026, with mandatory reporting for capital-market and cross-border operations set to begin on May 4, 2026.
Stablecoins under foreign exchange rules
Under Resolution 521, a purchase, sale or exchange of fiat-pegged virtual assets, including international transfers or payments using such assets, will be treated as foreign-exchange (FX) operations.
With this classification, stablecoin activity will be subject to the same scrutiny as cross-border remittances or currency trades.
Licensed FX institutions and the new SPSAVs will be able to perform these operations, subject to documentation and value limitations. According to the BCB, transactions with unlicensed foreign counterparts will be capped at $100,000 per transfer.
The rules also capture transfers to and from self-custodied wallets when intermediated by a service provider. This means that providers must identify the wallet’s owner and maintain their processes that verify the origin and destination of the assets, even if the transfer itself isn’t cross-border.
This provision extends AML and transparency obligations to areas previously considered outside the scope of regulated finance.
While the rules don’t explicitly ban self-custody, they close a key reporting gap, forcing regulated exchanges and brokers to treat wallet interactions like formal FX operations.
BCB says the goal is to promote efficiency and legal certainty
In the announcement, the BCB said its goal is to ensure “greater efficiency and legal certainty,” prevent regulatory arbitrage and align crypto activities with the country’s balance-of-payments (BoP) statistics, which means making stablecoin transfers visible in official financial data.
The move follows months of public consultation and growing concern from the central bank on the dominance of stablecoin use in Brazil. On Feb. 7, BCB president Gabriel Galipolo said that around 90% of crypto activity in Brazil involves stablecoins, mainly used for payments.
Galipolo said the widespread use of stablecoins in payments presents regulatory and oversight challenges, particularly in areas such as money laundering and taxation.
Brazil’s central bank said the new framework aims to curb scams and illicit activity while providing legal clarity to crypto markets.
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New rules could impact smaller crypto businesses
For crypto builders, however, this could raise compliance costs and reshape how local platforms interact with global liquidity. Smaller crypto players will now be forced to compete with bigger institutions and meet more comprehensive banking-grade standards.
The rules will formally take effect in February 2026, but market participants are expected to start restructuring before then.
For Brazil, where crypto activity is second only to Argentina in Latin America, the new regulations signal a decisive shift from experimentation to integrated oversight.
The new rules show that crypto is welcome in the Brazilian financial ecosystem, but it will have to play by the same rules as fiat money.
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