The Central Bank of Brazil formally acknowledged the bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as assets. In practice, the statistics of goods export and import in Brazil will start to include the purchases and sales of bitcoin and other cryptoassets. The information is stated in a press release disclosed by the Central Bank of Brazil on Monday (26/8) about the balance of payments in the month of July 2019.
The acknowledgement as assets of the bitcoin and other decentralized digital assets follows the recommendation of the Department of Statistics of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The recommendation was formalized by the international body in the document Treatment of Crypto Assets in Macroeconomic Statistics.
In the document, the IMF recommended to classify the purchase and sale of cryptoassets (specifically those for which there is no issuer) as non-financial assets produced, which implies their compilation in the balance of payments assets account.
Central Bank says that bitcoin contributes to reduce surplus
According to the Central bank, Brazil has been a liquid importer of cryptoassets. This has contributed to reducing the trade surplus in the balance of payments assets account. In July, the Central bank recorded a reduction in the positive balance of the trade balance of goods, from US$ 3.5 billion to US$ 1.6 billion. The bank did not detail the participation of the digital assets in such result.
The Brazilian financial agency also classified the activity of cryptocurrency mining as a productive process. Additionally, it was also highlighted that as the cryptoassets are digital, they have no customs record. But the purchases and sales by Brazilian residents implies in placing exchange contracts.
Other IMF guidelines for the bitcoin and digital assets
The IMF document also gives other guidelines on how the countries should handle and manage the digital assets. It recommends classifying the tokens under three categories. First, the payment tokens and utility tokens must be classified as non-financial assets. The exception is when the issuer recognizes he has a responsibility towards the future services to be rendered. Secondly, the asset tokens must be classified as securities of debt or equity. Lastly, the hybrid tokens must be sorted in the same way as the asset tokens if they have their features.Â
