BRAZIL Law and Practice Contributed by: Fabio Cendão, Heitor Maia, Eduardo Faria and Gabriel Lobato, Faria, Cendão & Maia Advogados (FCM Law)
FCM Law Rua Visconde de Pirajá 414, Sala 718 Ipanema Rio de Janeiro Brazil Tel: +55 21 98578 7938 Email: contato@fcm.law Web: www.fcm.law
1. Overview of Blockchain and Crypto- Assets 1.1 Blockchain 1.1.1 Evolution of Uses of Blockchain Over the last 12 months, the use of blockchain in Brazil has continued to grow in both centralised and decentralised environments, with particular empha- sis on private-sector asset tokenisation projects. The market has also matured from a regulatory standpoint, driven by the development of the regime applicable to Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), which has increased governance, compliance and risk manage- ment requirements. Among the use cases most widely studied, stable- coins have gained relevance in financial system infra- structure, particularly as a settlement layer and an efficient means for cross-border transfers. In the field of asset tokenisation, there has been strong growth in real-world assets (RWAs), including instruments such as debentures, bank credit notes (CCBs), rural prod- uct notes (CPRs), commercial notes and credit card receivables, with the potential to increase efficiency in the origination, distribution and liquidity of these assets. Over the next 12 months, the development of block- chain in Brazil is expected to be influenced by the greater integration of crypto-assets into the regulatory agendas for payments, foreign exchange and pruden- tial supervision. Requirements relating to operational governance, traceability and the adaptation of cus- tody and settlement structures are also expected to
become more important. In addition, the regulatory treatment of decentralised finance models is likely to directly affect the viability and scale of new use cases. In the field of intellectual property, there is still no specific legislation governing the interaction between blockchain and copyright or software rights. The issue continues to be addressed under existing legal frame- works, particularly the Software Law and the Copy- right Law. In practice, on-chain records have been used as evidence of prior creation or authorship, com- plementing, but not replacing, formal filings with the competent authorities. The tokenisation of creative works has also enabled new licensing models and the automated distribution of royalties through smart contracts. 1.1.2 Regulatory Sandbox Brazil has formally structured experimental regulatory environments, although none of them is exclusive to blockchain-based projects. The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) operates a regulatory sandbox established by BCB Resolution No 29/2020, while the Brazilian Secu- rities and Exchange Commission (CVM) maintains an equivalent programme for the capital markets, cur- rently governed by CVM Resolution No 29/2021. In practice, these mechanisms have operated as instruments of supervised innovation, but with still limited reach for the blockchain sector. The rounds held to date have selected a restricted number of projects, generally linked to structured participants or established institutions. Although some use cases use blockchain as supporting infrastructure, the predomi-
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