Brazil's central bank will require crypto firms to delay certain transfers to self-custody wallets and foreign crypto platforms for up to 24 hours starting Jan. 1, 2027.
Resolution BCB No. 584, which was published on Aug. 7, applies when a single transaction or a customer's combined transfers during one day exceed $10,000. Smaller transactions can also be held when a provider's risk controls flag them for additional scrutiny.
(Source: Brazil’s central bank)
The rule targets transfers made after customers fund accounts with Brazilian reais or crypto and then attempt to move the assets to self-custody or an overseas virtual asset service provider. It covers cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin as well as fiat-backed stablecoins.
Brazil targets movement of stolen crypto
The Central Bank of Brazil said the measure responds partly to the growing use of virtual assets, particularly stablecoins, to quickly move money obtained through financial fraud.
The 24-hour period is intended as a precautionary anti-fraud measure rather than an asset freeze. Providers must assess factors including the customer's risk profile, the transaction, the recipient and the jurisdiction involved before either releasing or rejecting the transfer.
Customers must also be told when their transaction is being held and informed that the restriction is temporary. Providers may release a transaction before the full period expires when a documented risk review determines it can proceed.
Companies that fail to comply could face tougher restrictions from the central bank, potentially including longer holding periods or the application of the procedure to smaller transactions.
Brazil continues tightening crypto oversight
The measure expands Brazil's existing payment fraud framework into the virtual asset sector and comes after several major crypto regulatory changes that were introduced over the past year.
A regulatory framework that took effect on Feb. 2 brought virtual asset providers under central bank supervision and established rules covering authorization, governance, security, anti-money laundering controls and certain foreign exchange activities. Brazil also began treating several stablecoin and international virtual asset transactions as foreign exchange operations.
Further restrictions were announced in May, and they limited the use of crypto and stablecoins to settle certain regulated cross-border payment transactions between payment providers and overseas counterparties.
The latest rules could have an outsized impact because Brazil is already one of the world's largest crypto markets. The country ranked fifth in Chainalysis' 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, behind India, the United States, Pakistan and Vietnam.
(Source: Chainalysis)
Chainalysis estimated that Brazil received $318.8 billion in cryptocurrency between July 2024 and June 2025, which is almost one-third of Latin America's crypto activity. Stablecoin purchases also accounted for more than half of Brazilian real-denominated crypto purchases during that period.
Resolution 584 is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, which gives exchanges and other covered providers several months to adapt their fraud-monitoring and transaction-review systems.