Brazilian Congress Postpones Crypto Bill Vote Until After October Presidential Elections

Deputies were originally scheduled to consider the text this week, which has already been approved by the Senate.

By Paulo Alves

Jul 14, 2022 at 1:09 a.m. UTC

Updated Jul 14, 2022 at 8:30 p.m. UTC

Brazilian Congress building (Marisa Cornelsen/Unsplash)

Paulo Alves

Paulo Alves is a crypto editor at InfoMoney, a leading financial news publication in Brazil.

Follow @oalvespaulo on Twitter

This article is adapted from CoinDesk Brasil, a partnership between CoinDesk and InfoMoney, one of Brazil's leading financial news publications. Follow CoinDesk Brasil on Twitter.

The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies postponed voting on a crypto bill until after the presidential elections in October, sources close to the matter told CoinDesk.

Deputies were going to consider the crypto bill before the congressional recess, starting next week, but the treatment of a budget guidelines law and a proposed constitutional reform for the medical sector have dominated the legislative agenda.
In April, the Senate approved the bill, which regulates crypto transactions and creates the label "virtual service providers" for crypto companies.
The Chamber of Deputies, for its part, has not reached a consensus on a final text as Congressman Expedito Netto (PSD-RO), in charge of presenting the bill in the lower house, removed two articles from the Senate’s original bill. The first removed article required exchanges to keep their assets separate from those of customers, while the second demanded exchanges to already have an EIN in Brazil in order to apply for a license.
ABCripto, the association that gathers local exchanges, asked the Chamber of Deputies to preserve those two original articles; meanwhile, foreign companies such as Binance and Bitso welcomed Netto’s proposed changes.
The first round of Brazil's presidential elections will take place Oct. 2, in which former President Lula da Silva is the frontrunner, according to the latest polls. A run-off would take place on Oct. 30.

This article was translated by Andrés Engler and edited by CoinDesk. The original Portuguese can be found here.

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