The past few months have been crucial in the cryptocurrency world.
After the FTX collapse shook the very foundations of the market – highlighting its fragility in the face of bad players – exchanges, regulators and investors began to demand stricter rules and standards to bring more security and transparency to the activities of companies in the ecosystem. .
Following this dynamic, countries where cryptocurrencies wield the most influence have chosen to implement — or at least discuss — regulating the sector more seriously.
Brazil was one of the countries that responded as quickly as possible to complaints from the cryptocurrency community. The market has widely celebrated the recent regulatory changes in the South American country.
A growing market despite the crisis
For Marcelo Sampaio, co-founder and CEO of Hashdex – one of the largest crypto-asset managers in Latin America, which gained worldwide fame after launching the world’s first ETF in 2020 on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) – the movement around regulation shows that the crypto market “has grown a lot in recent years and is now heading towards unprecedented maturity.”
In an interview with Fintech Nexus, Sampaio said that the new regulations, instead of hindering the growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, can stimulate its development, where the rules of the game are determined by the regulator in a healthy way in favor of fair competition, which can do a lot to “change the popular perception of crypto.” .
“Currently, many people have a negative image of cryptocurrency, due to the lack of knowledge about this market and the players that drive it,” said the Hashdex CEO. “Cases of mismanagement and fraud, as happened with FTX, only worsen the image of these assets. But there is a way to change this scenario and we believe it is time for healthier regulation and greater enforcement.”
At the end of the previous year, Brazil’s National Congress moved forward with a landmark regulation on cryptocurrency – a bill that had been under review since 2015.
This new law highlights, among other things, the rules established for virtual asset service providers or all companies involved in this sector, such as exchanges and asset managers, which will now be regulated and supervised by an executive branch.
The unanimous bet in the market is that the BCB will set the illegal rules.
The Brazilian Central Bank as preferred regulator
For Sampaio, identifying the BCB as a crypto market regulator should be very positive.
In Brazil, the Central Bank has played an essential and proactive role in the development of many innovative financial markets and initiatives. From creating the PIX instant payment system to advancing open finance, this institution has an eye on innovation and the entire market trusts its management,” he said.
The role of regulating the cryptocurrency market will be very similar to regulating payment institutions, which has enabled the fintech to flourish in the country we see today. So we can say that Brazil is on a good path.”
With the recent Brazilian presidential election bringing Luiz Inacio (Lula) da Silva back to power after a troubled past of corruption allegations, some players are starting to question the future of the cryptocurrency market in Brazil.
But Marcelo Sampaio believes that this market has already conquered a place in the hearts and pockets of citizens for years and that the country – and Latin America as a whole – will experience exponential growth in services related to these assets in the coming years.
“The growth in the number of people interacting with the world of cryptocurrency is a path of no return. It will happen in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and other places in the world,” comments the CEO. “I believe that in addition to seeing positive change that increases the confidence of major players in the market, we will also see the retail sector make changes that make cryptocurrency adoption possible, but without harming decentralization and privacy,” he concluded. .