The regulation of the crypto market was waiting to be sanctioned by President Jair Bolsonaro. According to the legislative calendar, the deadline for him to ratify bill 4.401/2021 would be December 23.
However, according to the Federal Senate, the bill was already sanctioned by the president, as provided by Brazilian law. Thus, on Thursday (22), the “Crypto asset Law”, as it became known, was published in the federal State’s Official Gazette.
As such, within 180 days, bill 4.401/2021 will become effective throughout the Brazilian state. The legislative proposal is the result of an effort to create specific legislation for the crypto market in Brazil, which has been under discussion among parliamentarians since 2015.
According to Daniel Paiva Gomes, author of the book “Bitcoin: the taxation of cryptocurrencies,” the legislative proposal is aimed at the entire crypto market. It involves everything from users to the platforms that provide services related to this sector.
“When we think about a regulatory framework for crypto assets, the first issue is to understand that we are not dealing objectively with crypto assets, but with the players involved, such as the VASPs – Virtual Asset Service Providers.”
Crypto assets law in Brazil
Bill 4.401/2021 was previously voted on between the senators and the federal deputies. The first vote was among the federal deputies, who approved an initial text, which the senators later modified.
After this, the legislative proposal returned to the House of Representatives, where the bill was discussed again, with the rapporteur being federal deputy Expedito Netto (PSD party-RO state).
The rapporteur presented the final draft of the legislative proposal on November 8, 2022, when the law was again approved among the federal deputies. As it was the third voting process, the text went on to presidential sanction after approval among the members of Congress.
According to article 66, §3 of the Brazilian Constitution, the legislative power could decide on the solemn promulgation of the 4.401/2021 bill if the president had not sanctioned the proposal. The next step was to publish the text in the federal State’s Official Gazette, and in 180 days, the law will come into force in Brazil.
In this way, the crypto assets law ended up being sanctioned with the decision by President Jair Bolsonaro, who will leave office at the end of this year after losing the 2022 Elections to the future president of Brazil, LuÃs Inácio Lula da Silva.
For Rodrigo Stallone, director of New Business at Transfero, the law’s approval is positive for the Brazilian crypto market and can improve the entire ecosystem.
“I believe that everyone within the Brazilian crypto ecosystem understands that some improvements are still needed, but the fact that this is being discussed and formalized through law is excellent. We’ll wait for more details about who will do what, but again, it’s very positive.”
Under discussion among parliamentarians for seven years, bill 4.401/2021 bundled three proposals to regulate the Brazilian crypto market. Before this proposal, federal deputy Aureo Ribeiro (Solidariedade party/RJ) created bill 2303/2015, which was transformed into the current bill 4.401/2021.
