Brazil Crypto Report

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!Helo Passos is the CEO and founder of Trexx, a startup dedicated to fostering blockchain game development and communities in Brazil. Previously, she built Latin America’s largest Axie Infinity community - which comprised 30,000 members at its peak. Helo was named to BCR’s 🏆 Top 10 Most Influential list for 2023 for her contributions to building and advancing Brazil’s blockchain gaming space, and she was also selected to the Forbes Brasil 30 Under 30 list for 2023.In this interview we discuss:* How Helo built the largest Axie Infinity community in Latin America with over 30,000 members. She shares how an organic movement of people seeking financial opportunities fueled explosive growth* Her current work with Trexx, which provides tools and services to help onboard more players and game developers into blockchain gaming. This includes guild management, NFT rental marketplaces, and plans for offering microloans to players* Helo’s predictions for 2024, including growth in top blockchain ecosystems like Ronin, Gala, The Sandbox, and major players like Ubisoft jumping into Web3 games. She’s particularly bullish on games optimized for mobile as a means of attracting more casual players* With over 200 million gamers, Latin America is a major emerging market. Investors see potential, but local developers want to lead their home markets first before expanding globally* Her trip to Ethereum Singapore where her team won a marquee hackathon and met Ethereum co-founder Vitalik ButerinYou can connect with Helo and Trexx on Linkedin and InstagramHave a great week everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! Appreciate everyone who took the time to participate in the BCR 2023 Most Influential series, and we’re excited to release the final list to you here today. Super grateful to everyone who has supported BCR in some way during 2023, and wish you all a great Christmas and holiday season heading into 2024.-AWSHow did we determine this list? BCR solicited input and suggestions from across the community to create a preliminary top 50 list of individuals who had the most impact on the Brazil crypto world in 2023. We identified names from across the spectrum: YouTubers and content creators, policymakers and regulators, builders and entrepreneurs, who are working on areas like Drex, gaming, community building, trading, investing, etc. We released those names to the public in late November for a vote to help us arrive at a top 10. The goal of this format is to ensure that this isn’t simply a popularity contest, but rather to create an accurate snapshot of Brazil’s digital asset world in 2023. So we weighed the public vote along with how much each individual objectively contributed to the overall ecosystem, with the goal of keeping a broad representation of contributions, roles and worldviews.Big congratulations to the winners! I will be releasing podcast interviews with hopefully all of these individuals over the next 1-2 months. You can check out the podcast edition of this rundown as well with myself and Antonio👇Top 10 of 2023 Rafael Castaneda - CastaCryptoCastaneda emerged in 2021 as one of the top Portuguese language content creators and community builders focusing on crypto and Web3. With his background as a “techno-philosopher”, cryptologist and 20+ years as a software engineer, Casta quickly differentiated himself from many of the other “influencers” from that era that simply grifted NFTs and memecoins (only to disappear once those trends died off). His content is refreshingly insightful and technical, yet grounded in reality and accessible to the average “crypto curious” investor. He also operates the Casta Guilda, which is an educational community for those keen to better understand technology, narratives, market cycles and more. His community is highly engaged, demonstrated by the fact that Casta received far and away the most votes of anyone for this Most Influential project.Helo Passos - CEO at TrexxA diehard gamer and entrepreneur since her youth, Helo has become the torch bearer for the Brazilian blockchain gaming ecosystem. After discovering Axie Infinity in October 2020, she spent the next two years building up an Axie community of 30,000 users - the largest in Latin America. In January 2023, she founded Trexx - which is a startup focused on building a broader blockchain gaming ecosystem in the region by supporting game developers and then bootstrapping communities around them. Her 2023 highlight came at Ethereum Singapore, where Trexx won first place in a Public Goods hackathon against 120 other teams. During the event, a certain Vitalik Buterin even came over to meet Trexx - which was the only Brazilian team to participate. While 2023 was a down year for blockchain gaming overall, this figures to be an explosive area in the next market cycle, so fique atento and keep an eye on what Helo and Trexx are building. Guto Antunes - Head of Digital Assets at ItaúItaú is one of the largest, oldest and most prestigious banks in Brazil and Latin America. It is also one of the most innovative and forward thinking banks globally as it relates to digital assets. In early December, Itaú launched a crypto brokerage for retail customers with a bitcoin and ether offering that will be expanded to include other assets in the coming year. The bank is also building out crypto custody and asset tokenization solutions, has been heavily involved in the Drex pilot, and even launched a tokenized receivables fund in partnership with Liqi Digital Assets and Oliveira Trust. Antunes is the man behind the curtain for all of these initiatives. Having previously held executive roles at 2TM/Mercado Bitcoin and Crypto.com (and traditional finance before that), he brings the necessary crypto know-how and understanding of the Brazilian banking system to lead Itaú into the tokenization age.Fabio Araújo - Drex Coordinator at Brazilian Central BankAraújo has been the public face of the Central Bank’s Drex/Digital Real initiative throughout 2023. As readers will surely know, Drex is an extremely ambitious project that aims to rewire the plumbing of Brazil’s entire financial system. It seeks to implement an innovative hybrid retail/wholesale CBDC system within a tokenization environment that will eventually house blockchain-native versions of all financial assets. Executing a project of such scale and ambition is no easy feat, as getting the 16 participating consortia onboarded onto the Drex testnet this year proved. The project has been met with some delays, which isn’t entirely unexpected, but it still has unresolved privacy

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!Brazil’s Central Bank released its much-awaited public consultation on crypto asset regulation late Thursday. Via this consultation, the BC seeks feedback from the public and the industry on 38 questions specific covering eight areas pertaining to regulation of cryptocurrencies and virtual asset service providers. 🔑 This is a critical moment in rulemaking process, as the bank will use the submitted comments to create draft regulation that will be released mid-2024 in the form of a second public consultation. This draft will be open for public comment before the final version is then released thereafter. Alessandra Rossi Martins joined the show to help us understand the contents of this consultation and the next steps. Alessandra is a partner at Machado Meyer Advogados, where she steers the firm’s crypto and fintech practice, and has been heavily involved in Brazil’s crypto legal and policy world for many years. Key themes from this conversation:* how this consultation is novel and different compared to prior rulemaking processes, particularly as this is the first time Bacen has put forth specific questions to the public in this manner* the specific types of information and perspectives sought by the BC, including asset segregation and risk management, the hiring of essential services, transition and grandfathering provisions, and more* how the BC is wrestling with questions pertaining to the treatment of foreign brokerages and service providers* the types of stakeholders that the BC wants to hear from * next steps in the process, including when we can expect the second consultation and the final regulationYou can connect with Alessandra on Linkedin. The Machado Meyer team graciously produced an English-language translation of the consultation document overnight which you can find here.Have a great week everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal! Seamus Rocca is CEO of Xapo Bank, which has been a pioneer in the realm of "bitcoin banking" for 10 years since being founded by the iconic Argentine entrepreneur and bitcoin promoter Wences Casares. Xapo kicked off its journey as a bitcoin custodian in 2013 with as much as 900,000 bitcoins in safekeeping for institutional investors. It was one of the earliest Silicon Valley-backed bitcoin companies and has been a stable bitcoin infrastructure play ever since. (It even transformed an old Swiss military bunker into the world’s most secure bitcoin custody vault)Over the last few years, the Gibraltar-based company has transformed itself into a full-service bitcoin banking platform called Xapo Bank. Some key themes from our conversation: * After selling its institutional custody business to Coinbase in a $50 million deal, Xapo Bank repositioned itself to provide banking services for retail and high net worth customers, acting as a bridge between crypto and traditional finance. The platform allows easy onboarding, Bitcoin custody, earnings on holdings, and spending. * While many competitors have come and gone over the last three years, Xapo Bank has followed its "Swiss bank of the future" approach to provide honest and transparent services to more conservative bitcoin investors around the world* How Xapo's retail bitcoin-based savings accounts provide an offshore banking alternative and a dollar hedge * Seamus’ experience at LaBitConf in November and his thoughts on bitcoin’s grassroots emergence in Argentina and LATAM* Xapo Bank's new partnership with Lightspark, the Lightning Network startup formed by David Marcus (ex-Facebook, PayPal), which will enable instant, cheap remittances on bitcoin-native infrastructure* Why Xapo Bank has chosen to maintain its focus on bitcoin products and services over the years and has generally resisted the temptation to dabble in altcoins and high-risk DeFi productsI really enjoyed this conversation with Seamus and I hope you do as well. You can connect with him on Linkedin if you’re interested in learning more. Have a great week everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!CVM Resolution 175 came into effect in October of this year, bringing several sweeping changes that will impact Brazil’s fund management industry. Among these changes is a provision that reduces the barrier to entry for Brazilian investment funds to allocate into cryptocurrencies and digital assets. To help us grasp what’s changing and why it’s important, I invited Alexandre Vasarhelyi to the show. Alexandre is the chief investment officer of BLP Crypto, which is Brazil’s oldest crypto-native investment fund. He has a great understanding of how the Brazilian fund industry operates and argues that managers will eventually have no choice but to allocate into crypto. Some key themes that we discuss in this interview: * How the new resolution alows funds to directly invest up to 10% of assets into crypto without needing to change bylaws. * Why fund managers recognize the growth opportunities in the crypto asset class and are positioning to capture part of these gains as a strategic play.* How big banks are poised to enable crypto trading/custody tailored to funds’ needs. Large Brazilian banks are likely to begin offering tailored crypto trading and custody services for asset managers within the first half of 2023.* How the CVM has taken a pragmatic approach to providing guidelines for crypto industry players. * Why the success of local crypto ETFs signals strong appetite among investors and points to growing retail and institutional interest in the asset class.* Why fund managers can no longer simply ignore crypto's growth or client demands. Resolution 175 means that managers cannot use regulatory uncertainty as an excuse to dismiss allocating to high-performing crypto assets.You can connect with Alexandre on LinkedinHave a great week everyone.-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!Because of the enormous significance of Javier Milei’s surprise presidential election victory in Argentina, I reckoned it would be worthwhile to bring in a few additional local experts to help explore the potential bitcoin and crypto implications of this seismic event. * Daniel Rybnik is the co-founder of ONG Bitcoin Argentina, a non-profit advocacy group, and is one of the OGs of the country’s bitcoin community. * Julian Colombo is the CEO of Bitso Argentina. Bitso is among the largest and longest-running exchanges in Latin America with more than 7 million customersThemes we discuss in this conversation:* the sentiment of the Argentine population after the peso lost 70% of its value over the last 10 months* how crypto adoption in the country has surged because the government has failed to maintain a strong currency, and how this became an issue that ultimately bridged the political divide * the roadblocks that Milei will face when implementing his agenda, given that he has no prior public sector experience and is lacking congressional support* why some of Milei’s more extreme campaign promises (like firing 50% of government employees and abolishing the central bank) will be difficult to enact, but radical changes could indeed come within the first 2-3 months of his administration* why restrictions on the use and sale of cryptocurrency will likely be lifted under the Milei administration - opening the door for more adoption by both retail and institutional players* why the best thing Milei can do for crypto and bitcoin is to not focus on crypto regulation but rather work on lifting barriers and obstacles to growing the economy more broadly* why Argentina’s bitcoin community is highly enthusiastic about a Milei presidency You can connect with Daniel and Julian on LinkedinHave a great week everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!We’re taking a break from our normally Brazil-focused content to focus on the Argentina presidential elections that shook both the world and the crypto community last week. To help us understand libertarian candidate Javier Milei’s surprise victory in last weekend’s election and the implications for bitcoin, Ripio CEO Sebastian Serrano joined the show to share his thoughts. As you are surely aware, the bitcoin community loudly welcomed Milei’s ascendence, including luminaries like Michael Saylor and Balaji Srinivasan.While Milei’s victory is undoubtedly a good thing for bitcoin, there’s a lot more nuance than the homerists on X/Twitter would have you believe. Serrano argues that Milei isn’t a “bitcoiner” or even “pro bitcoin” necessarily, but rather that his staunch free market principles highly align with the core ethos of the bitcoin community. Some key topics we address in this conversation:* how Argentina, which was once one of the world's richest economies, ended up in a state of hyperinflation and perpetual monetary crises* why Milei is likely to foster conditions that give Argentines the freedom to choose whichever currencies or assets they wish to use, including bitcoin and stablecoins.* why it seems likely that Milei will eliminate restrictions that currently prohibit banks and fintechs from offering cryptocurrency services to consumers.* why Sebastian believes that Milei has significant privacy concerns regarding the usage of any digital currency* how tax and regulatory burdens around cryptocurrency could be eased under a Milei administration.* how full dollarization of the economy may limit incentives to use bitcoin as a store of value versus stable dollar currency.You can connect with Sebastian on Linkedin and X/Twitter.Have a great week everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!We have an exciting episode for you today with Thomas Bohner, CEO of Credix - which is one of the most exciting startups operating in the asset tokenization space right now. Credix is a decentralized credit marketplace built on Solana that unites institutional capital in developed markets with fintechs and non-bank lenders in emerging market economies, who are then more able to make credit available to their retail and SME customers.I recorded an episode with CTO Maxim Piessen back in August 2022 to learn more about the mechanics of the platform and how it all works, and it has been my most downloaded episode to date. Shortly after releasing that episode, the team announced a funding round of US$11 million from Motive Partners, ParaFi Capital, Valor Capital, Fuse Capital, Circle Ventures and others.The company now enables more than 10,000 small borrowers, primarily in Brazil but also in Colombia and Mexico, to access US$40 million in loans that would have otherwise been unattainable or unaffordable. Thomas’ ambitious goal for 2024 is to grow Credix’s loan book to US$100 million and provide financing to 100,000 SMEs by the end of the year.Key points that we discuss in this conversation include: * A new US$60 million credit facility that will allow Credix to expand its operations and loan book in Latin America* Why the team decided to build its core infrastructure on Solana, and what it has been like to ride Solana ecosystem’s ups and downs over the last two years* How Credix is able to lower the barriers to entry for alternative asset investors seeking exposure to the Brazilian credit market* How Credix launched a US$10 million USDC receivables pool in Colombia with Clave, a lender that supports small farmers in the region. Initial investors in the pool include Solana Foundation and Keyrock* The new Tokenized Asset Coalition, of which Credix is a founding member alongside Coinbase, Circle, Aave and others* Why Credix is doubling down on the Brazil market specificallyI really enjoyed this opportunity to learn more about Credix and I hope you do as well. You can connect with Thomas on Linkedin and Twitter/XIf you want to learn more about Credix, I recommend having a listen to this podcast with Maxim from last year 👇Have a great week everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!Kim Grauer is the director of research at Chainalysis, which is a leading blockchain data and analytics firm. She is also the author of Chainalysis’s annual Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, which is the gold standard report for cryptocurrency adoption trends around the world. Brazil slipped in this year’s rankings slightly from 7th to 9th place, but overall adoption trends in the country remained strong during the period analyzed (July 2022 - June 2023) despite what was overall a pretty bad 12 months for the industry. In this conversation we discuss:* The five pillars used in the index to measure adoption: centralized exchanges (institutional and retail), peer-to-peer and DeFi (institutional and retail)* Why Brazil shows high institutional crypto activity compared to other Latin American markets* How retail crypto activity remained steady in Brazil despite heavy volatility during the observed period, indicating sustained grassroots interest* Growing interest in stablecoins throughout the region* Crypto adoption in other Latin American countries like Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia * The inverse correlation (but not necessarily causation!) between currency depreciation and crypto adoption in countries like Argentina* The prevalence of crypto adoption and usage in emerging markets economies around the worldI really enjoyed this conversation with Kim and I hope you do as well.You can connect with Kim on LinkedinHave a great weekend everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!For today’s episode I’m joined by Paxos chief revenue officer Michael Coscetta to discuss the firm’s ambitions in Brazil, Latin America and beyond. Paxos is a blockchain and digital asset infrastructure firm last valued at US$2.4 billion following its Series D fundraise in 2021. Its focus on providing enterprise grade solutions to regulated banks and financial services companies. Its offerings include white label stablecoins, asset tokenization, trading and digital asset custody.In this episode we discuss:* Paxos’s 10+ year history operating on the regulated side of the digital asset industry* Compliance as a core approach to Paxos’s business strategy* How Paxos supports use cases like payments, remittances, trading, liquidity and tokenization* The recent launch of PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin, which uses Paxos infrastructure* Why the firm sees Brazil and Latin America as a critical of its roadmap* How Paxos has already developed several large clients in the region, such as Nubank, Mercado Pago and - until recently - PicPayI really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do as well.Have a great week everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeDaniel de Paiva Gomes is a partner at VDV Advogados and is one of Brazil’s leading experts on issues of cryptocurrency taxation, having authored the book “Bitcoin: the Taxation of Cryptocurrencies” In this interview, we talk about Brazil’s existing tax structure for crypto assets — which Daniel argues is among the most advanced in the world, and the potential impact of new legislation recently approved by Brazil's Chamber of Deputies. This bill, which now moves to the Senate, would create a 15% baseline capital gains tax on “foreign” cryptocurrencies or cryptos that are held in wallets hosted overseas on exchanges like Binance or Bitget. While this sounds nefarious, and many influencers in the Brazil crypto world are sounding the alarm, Daniel argues that this rule wouldn't actually change much given that Brazil already operates a worldwide taxation regime where citizens are taxed on income and gains generated both inside and outside of the country. Further, the 15% rate is significantly less than the 22.5% progressive rate that applies to capital gains more broadly. However, he argues that the tricky part is the existing R$35,000 (US$7,000) monthly exemption, whereby a user doesn’t need to report gains to authorities if his trades sum up to less than R$35,000 in a month. Because this exemption isn’t included in the new legislation, retail traders who would not have exceeded the threshold previously would be forced to pay the 15 percent moving forward.We go into a lot more depth on this issue, including: * the bill’s chances of progressing in the Senate * how the Receita Federal would treat this rule should it be passed * significant gaps and non-sequitors in the current text of the bill There has been a lot of FUD and inaccurate takes on these topics being circulated over the last couple of weeks, so I appreciated Daniel coming on the show to help clarify some of these points. To be fair, taxation — and especially crypto taxation — issues are always difficult for both laymen and professionals to fully understand, so many thanks to Daniel for laying a helpful foundation here.You can connect with Daniel on Linkedin.Have a great weekend everyone-AWS Connect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!Lucas Giorgio and Matheus Moura are on the founding team of BRLA Digital, which is building onramp solutions for crypto companies looking to onboard Brazilian customers and create products targeted at local users. Among these solutions is their BRLA stablecoin and a set of APIs that allow companies to easily on and off-ramp between BRL and BRLA, USDC or USDT using Pix. Earlier this week, the BRLA Digital team announced a R$3 million (US$600,00) pre-seed investment round led by ex-Binance CFO Wei Zhou and SimpliPay founder Rodrigo Benez.In this episode we talk about:* Why the team pivoted away from building a CVM-regulated crypto fund in favor of creating a stablecoin* The current challenges foreign companies face when looking to onboard Brazilian users* Why there is room in the market for competing BRL-pegged stablecoins* The growing demand they are seeing from foreign companies looking for these types of on and off-ramp solutionsI really enjoyed this conversation with Lucas and Matheus and I hope you do as well. You can connect with both of them on Linkedin.Have a great week everyone,-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal! For this episode I’m joined by João Aragão Pereira, a financial technology specialist at Microsoft. João has been one of the key figures representing Microsoft in the Drex project, as well as other CBDC projects around the world. We explore how Microsoft’s Regulated Liability Network architecture could support Drex, which is being envisioned as not just a digital currency but rather an entire ecosystem of services built around programmable digital money and tokenized assets. João gives us an in-depth look at each of the layers of the RLN. Layers 1 and 2 serve as the settlement and interoperability layers for tokenized assets and liabilities, to be utilized by financial institutions and the Central Bank. Layers 3-5 enable assets and protocols to be built out at the respective financial institutions, business services (including those that incorporate Pix and Open Finance) and customer-facing applications like wallets and financial products. We also discuss how new breakthroughs in cryptography, like Microsoft's Confidential Computing Framework can allow for selective sharing of transaction data between authorized entities to balance privacy and transparency.There’s a lot of information presented in this conversation, but I walked away with a much more comprehensive understanding of the Drex vision. We use a number of slides and visual aids during the conversation, so I’d recommend watching the video version of this to get the full experience.👇You can read the RLN white paper here, and you can also connect with João on LinkedinI really enjoyed this conversation with João and I hope you do as well. -AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeHi everyone, A special congressional committee investigating cryptocurrency pyramids known as the CPI officially concluded this week with a scathing report urging the indictment of four Binance executives. The alleged crimes include fraudulent management, operating an unauthorized financial institution and crimes against the the financial system, among others.The individuals in question include:* Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance CEO * Guilherme Haddad Nazar, Binance Brasil Director General and nephew of current Finance Minister Fernando Haddad* Daniel Mangabeira, Director of Institutional Relations for Latam* Thiago Sarandy de Carvalho, Senior Counsel for Latin America The committee asserted that Binance was a willful channel for crypto pyramid scheme operators in Brazil to launder investor funds out of the country. Its final report argues that the exchange was the common denominator across many of these schemes, which are believed to have resulted in the loss of R$100 billion (US$20 billion) worth of Brazilian investor funds since 2017. This is highly significant because Brazil has been one of Binance’s 2-3 largest markets globally for the last several years. To help us better understand the committee’s recommendations and next steps, I invited Portal do Bitcoin reporter Fernando Martines and Mercado Bitcoin executive Daniel Cunha to the show. I will have more information about the CPI and Binance situation in this week’s newsletter, but in the meantime I highly recommend having a listen to this episode to understand You can connect with Daniel and Fernando on Linkedin.I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal! Today’s episode is one I recorded onsite at Blockchain Rio with Alexandre Adogio, CEO of Sonica. Sonica is a no-code platform for building and deploying Web3 projects. In this interview, we discuss:* the emergence of no-code software tools over the last couple years* how Sonica started out as a Web2 no-code platform, but eventually pivoted to Web3 due to increased competition in the Web2 website builder market* how builders and creators can use Sonica to seamlessly create their own NFT collections, loyalty tokens and community tokens* Sonica’s integrations with other popular platforms like HubSpot and NFTickers* Sonica’s latest investment round, which is underway with with two VCs already committed* Why the collapse of the NFT market isn’t as bad as people thinkYou can connect with Alexandre on LinkedinI really enjoyed our conversation with Alexandre, and I hope you do as well.Have a great week everyone!-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!Fuse Capital partner Dan Yamamura joined myself and Felipe Cabral at Blockchain Rio for another special crossover episode with the Let’s Crypto Podcast. This particular interview is in Portuguese, but I’ll try to get an English-language redux with Dan soon. In this episode, we discuss how Dan and Fuse Capital have stuck to their fundamentals-driven investment theses despite the down market, and how they have strayed away from “easy money” opportunities in favor of long term plays.Dan also discusses why he sees a light at the end of the tunnel of the current bear market, and he argues that we are in a type of bull market in terms of the quantity of opportunities that are emerging.Specifically, he says that Fuse reckons that what’s happening in Brazil with the development of the Drex platform is among the most interesting trends in all of crypto and Web3 currently. You can connect with Dan on LinkedinI really enjoyed our conversation with Dan and Felipe, and I hope you do as well. Have a great week everyone!-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!Today I’m joined by Jean-Michel Guillot, head of product for blockchain and digital assets at Dinamo Networks. Dinamo is a digital security company that provides solutions to banks, financial institutions, governments and large companies. Its primary solution is a hardware security module (HSM) that keeps cryptographic keys and processes secured. Notably, Dinamo’s solution is used to generate and secure the cryptographic keys underpinning the Pix payment system developed by the Brazilian Central Bank. Launched in 2020, Pix now executes 150 million transactions per day and is used by 90% of the adult Brazilian population. Dinamo is also a formal participant in the TecBan consortium, one of the 16 consortia involved in the Drex pilot, and is involved in several others as service provider. We dive into how Dinamo’s HSMs are being used to secure transactions conducted in the Drex test environment, thus guaranteeing the integrity of the network.We also discuss:* Jean Michel’s French-Brazilian background and his journey from consulting to technology, and his ultimately his entry into the blockchain space* How Dinamo's technology ensures that cryptographic keys are never exposed to the internet, providing a secure environment for transactions.* Challenges inherent in implementing Drex, including ensuring security, preserving privacy for an enormous quantity of transaction, and connecting banks to the national network for transactionsYou can connect with Jean-Michel on LinkedinI really enjoyed this conversation with Jean-Michel and I hope you do as well. Have a great week everyone!-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOla pessoal! Eu tive a oportunidade pra juntar com Felipe Cabral, host do Let’s Crypto podcast, pra gravar algumas “crossover episodes” onsite no Blockchain Rio, que aconteceu mais cedo em Setembro. Nesse primeiro episódio, a gente conversa com Rodrigoh Henriques - diretor da inovação no Fenasbac. Fenasbac é a associacão official dos funcionários do Banco Central do Brasil e tem sido muito envolvido em todos os projetos de inovação financeira surgindo do banco - incluindo Pix, Open Finance, e agora Drex. A gente fala sobre o ecosistema do Drex, como o Fenasbac e o LIFT Lab e LIFT Challenge funciona como um sandbox pra testar produtos and serviços dentro do mundo do Drex, e como esse CBDC atacado vai impactar a sistema financeira do Brasil. Esse episódio esta em Português, mas eu vou convidar Rodrigoh novamente pra fazer uma discussão mais longe sobre Drex e Fenasbac em inglês no futoro. Eu gostei muito esse crossover episódio com Felipe e Rodrigoh e tomara que vocês gostam tambem. Boa fim da semana! -AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!Taynaah Reis is a Brazilian technologist, entrepreneur and activist. In this episode, recorded onsite at Blockchain Rio earlier this month, we discuss how she learned to code at 12 years old, how she started her first company at 16, and her current entrepreneurial and social impact initiatives that make use of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. These projects include Moeda Seeds - a crypto-powered microcredit platform that was one of the first crypto projects in Brazil, financial education platform Inkluziva and O2 Foundation - which is building a marketplace for tokenized carbon credits.Taynaah was also a named a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer in 2023 👏You can connect with Taynaah on LinkedinI really enjoyed this conversation with Taynaah and I hope you do as well. Have a great week everyone!-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal! After starting as “Turbotax for Crypto” product 10 years ago that helped retail crypto holders figure out their tax obligations, Lukka has built itself into a unicorn enterprise crypto data services company offering institutional-grade accounting, audit and data products. CEO Robert Materazzi and his team passed through Brazil recently to meet with regulators and industry stakeholders, and we had the opportunity to meet up and record this interview in São Paulo. Topics we cover in this conversation:* Lukka’s product suite, which includes financial reporting and proprietary data products, as well as its Lukka Prime product that is used by S&P, Dow Jones indices and a number of major crypto exchanges* how Lukka’s data services power many of the proposed bitcoin ETFs queueing up to launch in the US * why TradFi companies like S&P and State Street are among Lukka’s customers* Lukka’s fundraising history and current cap table. In its Series E funding round, completed in January 2022, Lukka raised US$110 million at a US$1.3 billion valuation from investors like Marshall Wallace, Miami International Holdings, S&P and State Street * Reflections from Robert’s recent trip to Brazil and how Brazil squares against other markets on the regulatory frontI really enjoyed this conversation with Robert and I hope you do as well. You can connect with Robert and the Lukka team through their website Lukka.techHave a great week everyone!-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal!For today’s episode I am joined by Daniel Lynch, who is head of partnerships for Metamask Institutional at Consensys. He also oversees business development and sales for Latin America for MI and other Consensys products.Daniel spent most of his career in banking before coming over to crypto and joining Consensys two years ago. In this episode we discuss:* a survey commissioned by Consensys that illustrates how Brazilian consumers perceive Web3* Consensys’ role as an innovation propeller in the space* Brazil is a critical market for retail Metamask users* Metamask Institutional gaining product market fit in the country as more institutional users warm up to the asset class* Metamask Learn as an incredible resource (in numerous languages) for those looking to learn quick and deep about Web3* The rollout of Metamask Snaps that allows the wallet to incorporate new tokens on Solana and other blockchains I really enjoyed this conversation with Daniel and I hope you do as well. You can learn more about Metamask Institutional here, and be sure to take a look at Consensys’ Metamask Learn resource for great educational Web3 content. You can connect with Daniel on LinkedinHave a great week everyone!-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon | Google Podcasts | YouTubeOlá pessoal! For today’s podcast episode I’m joined by Parfin CEO Marcos Viriato. Marcos is a Brazil financial industry veteran - he was previously a partner at BTG Pactual before becoming an angel investor and ultimately CEO of Parfin, a leading Web3 and blockchain infrastructure provider in Brazil and Latin America. Marcos and his team have held to the thesis that institutional adoption of crypto and blockchain will ultimately happen via permissioned networks and solutions.The Parfin team has also been heavily involved in the Drex (formerly Digital Real) ecosystem, which has been facilitated by the Brazil Central Bank. Parfin and Santander Brasil developed a delivery-versus-payment solution for tokenizing and transferring car titles in last year’s LIFT Challenge (essentially a sandbox for CBDC applications). The company is also a participant in one of the 16 Drex pilot consortia currently underway and is supporting several others with technology solutions.In this episode we discuss:* How Marcos discovered the Satoshi white paper as a partner at BTG Pactual and bought his first bitcoin for $600* The technological potential he saw during the 2017 ICO boom. While most of tokens issued were junk with nothing backing them, the underlying tech allowed for a global distribution of decentralized assets* Parfin’s original 2019 vision of issuing a regulated stablecoin in the UK, followed by a pivot to institutional infrastructure* Parfin’s current product suite - including Parfin Terminal, MPC custody, crypto-as-a-service for Tradfi banks and brokerages, tokenization services and ParChain* How Parfin has sought to bring crypto-native concepts like decentralized finance, liquidity pools and automated makers to regulated TradFi environments like the CVM’s (Brazilian SEC) regulatory sandbox, and the LIFT Challenge and Drex pilot being run by the Brazil Central Bank* Why Framework Ventures, an American blue chip crypto VC, decided to lead Parfin’s US$15 million seed round* Why the timing of a technology product launch is just as an important of a factor in a product’s success as the actual technology itself I really enjoyed this conversation with Marcos and I hope you do as well. You can learn more about Parfin at https://parfin.io/en/ and you can connect with Marcos on LinkedinHave a great week everyone!-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon| Google PodcastsOlá pessoal!Maria Gabriela Damiani is a Technical Advisor to the President at the Commissão dos Valores Imobiliários (CVM), also known as the Brazilian version of the SEC. Before arriving at CVM, she worked stints at XP, B3 and UBS.In this episode we discuss the CVM's approach to digital asset regulation and how it differs from the approaches take by other countries like the US and Europe. We also dive into some thorny discussion topics such as the line between investor protection and consumer protection, the legality of fixed-income tokens and Brazil's interpretation of the Howey Test.This episode is a must listen for anyone looking to get a better understanding of how the agency is approaching the world of crypto assets. You can connect with Maria Gabriela on LinkedinHave a great weekend everyone.-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon| Google PodcastsOlá pessoal!In this week’s episode I’m joined by Mayra Siqueira, Brazil community manager at the Algorand Foundation. Mayra is responsible for evangelizing Algorand, a highly-performant Layer 1 blockchain developed by renowned computer scientist and Turing Award winner Silvio Micali, in Brazil and Latam. Prior to joining Algorand Foundation, Mayra was Binance’s first employee in Brazil.In this conversation we discuss:* Algorand as an efficient, scalable alternative Layer 1 chain that offers instant finality* Several use cases and applications being developed in the region using Algorand, including tokenized commodities like AgroToken and NFT ticketing applications like TravelX in Argentina - which has issued more than one million airplane tickets since launch* Her experience as Binance’s first employee in Brazil and what it was like to bootstrap a community from scratch - ultimately resulting in Binance becoming by far the most popular crypto exchange in the country* The differences between trying to bootstrap a community in bull market versus a bear market* The challenges of trying to lure Latam developers and builders into Web3* Programs and resources that Algorand Foundation offers to builders in the regionYou can connect with Mayra on Linkedin and Algorand Brasil on Twitter. Connect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | Amazon| Google PodcastsOlá pessoal! If you’ve been paying attention to crypto markets the last three months, you’ve heard the narrative that a spot bitcoin ETF approval in the United States is imminent. Seeking a glimmer of hope amid a brutal winter, crypto markets seized on Blackrock’s blockbuster bitcoin ETF application in June to surmise that, after 10 years of denials, an approval is just around the corner and will inject much-needed life into the currently moribund industry. This narrative isn’t just a Crypto Twitter play; even Bloomberg’s ETF analysts ratcheted up their probability of a US bitcoin ETF approval this year from 10 percent to 65 percent following the Blackrock news. After all, the world’s largest asset manager surely wouldn't waste its precious time applying for a bitcoin ETF if they didn’t think it would be approved, right? Perhaps, but it’s not that simple - as Hashdex’s head of US and Europe Bruno Ramos de Sousa explains on today’s podcast. Bruno articulates that while some big players have entered the conversation recently, nothing has fundamentally changed that would make the SEC any more likely to approve an ETF filing now versus six months ago. He argues that the ETF conversation on Crypto Twitter has become irrationally exuberant and that many observers are making assumptions and predictions that aren’t grounded in reality. As someone who is perhaps overly eager for bullish signals about the crypto market right now, I appreciated Bruno’s dose of realism here. It’s not all doom and gloom though. Bruno and Hashdex are still super bullish that bitcoin crypto ETFs will eventually become a reality in the US and unlock significant value for the market globally. This might just take longer than we would like.I really enjoyed this conversation with Bruno and I hope you do as well. You can connect with him on Linkedin and Twitter.Have a great week everyone- AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | AmazonOlá pessoal! In this week’s podcast I’m joined by Nicky Dyskant, who is one of the top fintech and capital markets lawyers in Brazil. In this conversation, we discuss her role as an advisor to several key crypto companies operating in the country - including Fireblocks, 2TM, Vórtx QR Tokenizadora and Hashdex. We dive into her purview on Drex (formerly Digital Real), the crypto regulatory framework currently being developed by the Brazilian Central Bank and the current environment for security tokens and fixed income tokens in the country.You can connect with Nicky on LinkedinI really enjoyed this conversation with Nicky and I hope you do as well.- AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | AmazonOlá pessoal! For this episode I’m joined by Leandro Pereira who is head of growth for Latam at Paysafe and a 10 year veteran of the Brazil crypto scene. PaySafe provides payment infrastructure and wallets, with solutions for alternative payment methods, prepaid cards, debit cards and crypto payments. The company’s main clients in the region are in the gambling and igaming spaces, and it is expanding its presence in other verticals like crypto payments and cross-border transactions.We discuss Leandro’s trajectory in the ecosystem, the intersection of payments, blockchain and crypto in Latin America, and his role at Paysafe where he oversees growth for the region.We also discuss Borderless Money, a project Leandro co-founded that functions as a DeFi platform for social causes and impact. Users can deposit USDC which then generate yields that are distributed to selected social causes that are voted on by the community.You can connect with Leandro on Linkedin. I really enjoyed this conversation with Leandro and I hope you do as well. Have a great week everyone-AWSConnect with 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | AmazonOlá pessoal! For this week’s podcast I am joined by Rai Auad, who is one of Brazil’s leading Web3 educators and content creators.Rai shares her journey from working in traditional finance to becoming a full-time web3 influencer and entrepreneur, starting with an interest in Axie Infinity and other crypto games in 2021.Soon after, she quit her job at Itaú to begin creating Web3 educational content full-time for the Brazilian audience, modifying her approach along the way as the market has shifted and narratives have changed.Topics covered in this episode:* challenges of balancing Rai’s many ventures, from content creation to event coverage to her role in Web3 communities and startups in Brazil* her experiences playing more than 70 different crypto games* how she engages her audience across different channels and platforms* the ups and downs inherent in being an independent content creator Check out Rai’s Linktree to follow her across all of her channelsHave a great weekend everyone-AWS Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | AmazonOlá pessoal!I hope everyone had a great week. I’m excited to share my latest podcast with Gean Chu. Gean is a partner at Honey Island Capital, a Curitiba-based venture firm founded by several veterans of fintech unicorn Ebanx. In this conversation we discuss Honey Island's investment theses and portfolio of companies that provide credit and financial services to underbanked populations in Brazil.We also explore Honey Island’s new Web3 fund, managed by Gean, which is focused on liquid tokens (as opposed to equity) and on-chain strategies like staking, farming and liquidity provision.We also dive into Gean’s previous life as a computer engineer and entrepreneur before coming into Web3 - including a startup that became one of Brazil’s largest ice cream companies. I really enjoyed this conversation with Gean and I hope you do as well You can connect with Gean on Linkedin and Twitter. -AWSConnect with Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts / Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor | AmazonOlá pessoal! It's been a rough few months for the crypto custody world.In May, Ledger sparked a massive backlash when it released a controversial key recovery mechanism. Regulated custodian Prime Trust is accused of misusing customer funds and has been put into receivership by the state of Nevada. Earlier this week, Nasdaq publicly backed away from plans to launch its own crypto custody service.CoinDesk summed it up nicely in an article entitled “Apparently It’s Very Difficult to Custody Crypto”. Custody is supposed to be a boring, meat and potatoes topic in crypto, but given the problems the industry is collectively experiencing in this area, I think it warrants further examination. To help us understand these challenges and explore potential solutions, I invited Composecure chief product officer Adam Lowe to the show to help us unravel. Composecure is a publicly traded company and has been a leading manufacturer of high-end metal payment cards and authentication technologies for two decades. It is also the manufacturer of the Arculus hardware wallet, which features three-factor authentication and military-grade cryptography and focuses on delivering on safety, simplicity and security and and how this solution addresses the crypto industry's ongoing custody woes.In this episode, Adam discusses Arculus's dual key solution for retail customers, as well as its B2B white label solution - which has partnerships already established in Asia and Latam.You can connect with Adam on LinkedinI really enjoyed this conversation with Adam and I hope you find it insightful.-AWSConnect with Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts / Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! Greetings from Pará where I’m on holiday exploring the jungles and beaches of the Amazon (and sweating like crazy!) This week’s podcast is a recording of a panel I hosted with Thales de Freitas of Bitso, AB InBev’s Daniel Tartaro and fintech expert Bruno Diniz at Digital Finance Brasil last month at the University of São Paulo.The panel explored how the respective worlds of crypto and fintech in Brazil are quickly converging, be it through Bitso’s efforts to bridge traditional finance with DeFi and CeFi, AB InBev’s loyalty program that uses tokenization and blockchain tech, and the importance of trust in established brands embracing these technologies even in a down market. 🎧You can also tune in on Spotify, Anchor or Apple Podcasts if you preferHave a great weekend everyone!-AWS Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal!Renan Kruger is a digital asset specialist at Santander Brasil, one of Brazil's largest banks and one that is actively involved in the country's budding digital asset space. This episode was recorded live during a fireside chat I did with Renan at the Digital Finance Brazil event on June 22 at the University of São Paulo. In this conversation we discuss:* how Santander Brasil is studying the digital asset market and regulatory ecosystem in the country* the bank's participation in the Brazilian Central Bank's Digital Real pilot program, particularly how it will test a blockchain-enabled delivery-versus-payment method for tokenized government bonds* how the Digital Real ecosystem will change the relationship between banks and investors while making investments more transparent and accessible.* a future in which every consumer will have two kinds of accounts in their bank app: a digital account for tokenized assets and a traditional account for transferring money.You can connect with Renan on LinkedinI really enjoyed this conversation with Renan and I hope you do as well. You can listen in your browser here on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or on YouTube belowHave a great week everyone.-AWSConnect with Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts / Substack Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! I had the chance to catch up with Rodrix Digital at Consensus 2023 in Austin, Texas. Rodrix is one of Brazil’s original crypto influencers and content creators having first started his YouTube brand back in 2017. He now provides education and content on various platforms, including YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok, and has expanded his services to include consulting, marketing, and PR for businesses entering the Brazilian market. Today, his Bitcoin Block YouTube channel has published nearly 1500 videos and has more than 30,000 subscribers. In this episode we discuss:* Rodrix’s numerous experiences in El Salvador and his new initiative helping people learn about the country’s new bitcoin law and how to move to the country* Challenges of implementing Bitcoin in a cash economy and the positive aspects of the country’s bitcoin law. Rodrix also explains how the proposed volcano bond system how it will in theory enable from around the world to buy Treasuries from El Salvador using bitcoin* The evolution of the cryptocurrency industry and the attention economy, as well as the potential for Web3 to revolutionize the content business model. * The political situation in Brazil and its potential impact on the mainstreaming of crypto in the country. Rodrix argues that Brazil's political turmoil is expected to stagnate the economy in the next 6-12 months, potentially causing investors to pull out billions of dollars and throttling Brazil’s nascent digital assets economyI enjoyed this conversation with Rodrix and I hope you do as well. No video for this one but you can listen in your browser, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a great day everyone!-AWS Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🔥 Quick shout out to our partners at the BlockchainSP Festival and Digital Finance Brasil. These events will take place June 20-23 at the University of São Paulo and bring together crypto and TradFi professionals, students, hackers and investors from all walks. I hope to see you all there! Olá pessoal! For this episode I am joined by Cryptum CEO André Salem to discuss illuminating new research exploring crypto adoption and sentiment in Brazil that him and his team have produced.Cryptum is a Brazil-based blockchain-as-a-service stack that provides tools for developers and companies looking to build blockchain and Web3 applications.André and his team recently commissioned an extensive survey of more than 1000 consumers and financial market professionals assessing their views toward cryptocurrency and the Web3 ecosystem in Brazil. (You can download the full report here)We discuss the main findings from the survey, including:* Most Brazilians have a positive view of what is happening on the Digital Real front given the Central Bank’s track record of delivering on previous financial innovation projects. * There is still lacking a sound understanding of crypto, Web3 and how these concepts intertwine with Digital Real, though people see reduced bureaucracy and more efficient financial transactions as a potential benefit* The risk of hacking remains a significant concern among concerns* Most financial services companies don’t have a good understanding of what the Digital Real means for their business models, nor are they ready to adopt these technologies.* Tokenization is seen as a bridge use case between Web3 and TradFi, as companies can become fintechs once they are able to tokenize their own assets. However, there is still a gap with regard to talent and skills in these areas.I definitely recommend checking out the full interview with André to learn more. You can tune in on the Substack platform or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube below 💣Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next time!-AWSThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🔥 Quick shout out to our partners at the BlockchainSP Festival and Digital Finance Brasil. These events will take place June 20-23 at the University of São Paulo and bring together crypto and TradFi professionals, students, hackers and investors from all walksThe team announced this past week that former Brazilian Central Bank President and current Binance advisor Henrique Meirelles will join as keynote speakerOlá pessoal!I normally try to keep this platform very Brazil focused, but there has been a whirlwind of crypto news out of the US recently that have had major impacts on markets globally.Like it or not, the US is still the most important crypto market in the world, and if you’re a professional operating in this industry you need to be paying serious attention to what’s happening there. So to help you do that, Antonio and I invited two experts from the US to help us synthesize what’s going on with these SEC lawsuits and understand how observers in markets like Brazil should be interpreting these events. * Lewis Cohen is an honorary Brazilian through marriage and is the co-founder of DLx Law. He’s long been one of the leading voices at the intersection of crypto and securities law in the US, and he recently co-authored the 180 page treatise The Ineluctable Modality of Securities Law: Why Fungible Crypto Assets Are not Securities. Follow him on Twitter at @NYcryptolawyer* Nikhilesh De is a former colleague of mine at CoinDesk, where he overseas all of the outlet’s policy and regulatory coverage. He’s been covering US regulatory issues for almost five years now and has more institutional knowledge on these issues than probably any other journalist on the planet. Follow him on Twitter at @nikhileshdeWe run through the madness of the last couple of weeks in the US, including:* June 2 - the McHenry-Thompson draft legislation was introduced. The bill would provide market structure reform specific to crypto assets - including defining clearer roles for the SEC and CFTC with respect to the asset class* June 5 - SEC filed 13 charges against Binance (and CZ) accusing it of operating as an unregulated securities exchange, commingling customer funds, misrepresenting trading controls on Binance.US and a bunch of other bad stuff* June 6 - SEC sues Coinbase accusing it of operating as an unregistered securities exchange in the US. The agency specifically named a plethora of crypto assets as securities in the lawsuit* June 7 - Binance fights back claiming that SEC Chair Gary Gensler offered to be an advisor to Binance and CZ in 2019 * June 12 - Rep. Warren Davidson introduces the “SEC Stablization Act” that seeks to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler* June 13 - the infamous Bill Hinman emails related to his 2018 speech about how Ethereum was “sufficiently decentralized” are released as part of the SEC vs Ripple lawsuit* June 13 - a federal judge rejects the SEC’s petition to freeze Binance.US’s assets We break down these events and assess just how bad the situation is, the road ahead for crypto in the US and the outlook for much-needed crypto legislation, and implications for other markets like Brazil.I learned a lot from this conversation with Nik, Lewis and Antonio and I hope you do as well. You can also listen on YouTube below or on Spotify or Apple PodcastsConnect with Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts / SubstackThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🔥 Quick shout out to our partners at the BlockchainSP Festival and Digital Finance Brasil. These events will take place June 20-23 at the University of São Paulo and bring together crypto and TradFi professionals, students, hackers and investors from all walksThe team announced this past week that former Brazilian Central Bank President and current Binance advisor Henrique Meirelles will join as keynote speakerOlá pessoal! I had the chance to catch up with Guilherme Santana at Consensus 2023 in Austin. Guilherme is an engineer, biotech entrepreneur, crypto OG and the founder of Preservaland, which is a project that uses NFTs to incentivize landowners to protect their holdings from deforestation. We talk about how the Preservaland team identifies land in Brazil that is considered “preservable” and then pay the landowner to convert the land to a special legal status preventing it from being deforested or developed.The parcel of land is then represented by an NFT, as well as relevant metadata, which can be purchased by publicly-traded companies looking to keep carbon credits or biodiversity credits on their balance sheet. In addition, we discuss:* pain points inherent in carbon credit issuance and accounting, and how blockchain can help address these problems* why high quality and verifiable carbon assets are difficult to come by* how a publicly-traded bank in Brazil now holds a Preservaland NFT on its balance sheet * why US companies will need to look to solutions such as Preservaland when the SEC rules requiring carbon impact reporting go live in 2024* how Preservaland created a compliance platform to verify the land and quantify environmental impact pursuant to Brazilian lawI enjoyed talking with Guilherme and hearing about his market-based approach conservation to carbon credits using NFTs and tokenization. You can also listen on SpotifyHave a great week everyone!-AWS If you enjoyed this content, please consider sharing and following 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple PodcastsThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🔥 Quick shout out to our partners at the BlockchainSP Festival. The festival, comprised of 14 concurrent events, will take place at the University of São Paulo and bring together crypto and TradFi professionals, students, hackers and investors from all walks. Please head over to blockchainfestival.io/sao-paulo to learn moreOlá pessoal!Jonathan Levin is Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Chainalysis, a leading blockchain data and analytics company valued at US$8.6 billion in its most recent funding round.I had the chance to sit down with Jonathan this week at the Criptorama conference in Brasilia, hosted by ABCripto and Fenasbac. We met up in the lobby of the famous Royal Tulip Hotel to chat about how blockchain data services like Chainalysis can bring trust to Brazil’s emerging digital asset ecosystem.In this interview we discuss:* Takeaways from Jonathan’s recent visit to Brazil, in which he met with key industry and public sector stakeholders in São Paulo and Brasília* Chainalysis’s global presence and expansion efforts into Latin American markets * The role that blockchain analytics firms play in creating a healthy regulatory and supervisory framework for Brazil’s cryptoeconomy, particularly once the Digital Real platform is live* How crypto adoption in Brazil differs from other regions of the world, namely the high demand for USD-pegged stablecoins * Best practices, common mistakes and lessons learned that Jonathan has gleaned from watching other governments wrestle with crypto regulation and supervisionI really enjoyed this conversation with Jonathan and I hope you do as well. You can also listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Have a great weekend everyone!-AWSIf you enjoyed this content, please consider sharing and following 🇧🇷Brazil Crypto Report across the web: Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Podcasts Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🔥 Quick shout out to our partners at the BlockchainSP Festival. The festival is comprised of 14 concurrent events and will take place at the University of São Paulo and bring together crypto and TradFi professionals, students, hackers and investors from all walks. Please head over to blockchainfestival.io/sao-paulo to learn moreOlá pessoal!I hope everyone is having a great week! For this latest podcast episode I had the chance to welcome not one but two special guests. The first is my guest co-host Antonio Neto, whom you may recall was my first-ever interviewee for this show last year when he was the head of Brazil and Latam at FTX. We were also joined by Alex Nascimento, who is a professor at UCLA in the US and a partner at 7 Visions Digital, a São Paulo-based venture fund focused on tokenizing Real World Assets such as debt, precatories and environmental assets. He’s also the author of The STO Financial Revolution: How Security Tokens Change Businesses Forever.In this episode, Alex discusses his experiences teaching crypto and blockchain at the university level and how demand for these courses have ebbed and flowed with the crypto markets. We also discuss:* the challenges inherent in sourcing qualified talent in the blockchain industry* the value proposition of security tokens and how these assets fit into crypto cycles dating back to 2017* how Brazil’s financial regulators have been forward thinking on questions of tokens * the problem of fragmentation in securities regulation regimes worldwide* the investment proposition of regulated real world asset tokens vis-a-vis more volatile crypto-native assets * the challenges inherent to fully registering the full lifecycle of an RWA token on chain* the lack of quality yield-generating products currently available to the Brazilian populationhow asset tokenization can offer high-yield investment opportunities to retail investors that would be otherwise unavailable* the role and effectiveness of regulatory sandboxes such as the one operated by Brazil’s CVM* how institutional finance in Brazil can participate in decentralized finance using zero knowledge proofs and other tools* how 7 Visions Digital is exploring novel tokenization products like carbon credits, precatories and receivables * why Latin America will be the next big bitcoin mining hubI really enjoyed this conversation with Alex and Antonio and I hope you do as well. You can watch on YouTube below, Spotify or Apple Podcasts Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

🔥This episode is possible thanks to our partners at the BlockchainSP Festival. This event will take place at the University of São Paulo and will be one of the premier events of the year for the Brazil crypto ecosystem. This festival of events will bring together crypto and TradFi professionals, students, hackers and investors from all walks. Please head over to blockchainfestival.io/sao-paulo to learn moreOlá pessoal!For this most recent podcast I had the chance to sit down with Jorge Souto and Paulo Boghosian who run the TC Cripto program at Traders Club. Traders Club is a premium community that provides education, tools and research for primarily sophisticated traders across equities, derivatives and commodities.Paulo and Jorge are both career TradFi professionals who pivoted into crypto in the mid-2010s. In early 2021 they spun up TC Cripto, which is a division of Traders Club focused specifically on digital assets. In this episode we discuss:* The “arranged marriage” that brought Jorge and Paulo together to form TC Cripto* The makeup of retail versus professional traders in Brazil across different asset classes* Why the institutional investor community in Brazil has been slow to embrace crypto and digital assets* How membership in TC Cripto has continued to expand despite the bear market* The importance of macro conditions and indicators on crypto markets, particularly movements in the US, Europe, Japan and China* The Cantillon effect and its impacts on wealth and income disparities in Brazil* The lack of homegrown blockchain projects coming out of the Brazil ecosystem* Market predictions for the remainder of 2023You can watch on YouTube below or listen on Spotify. I really enjoyed this conversation with Jorge and Paulo and I hope you do as well. -AWS Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! Today I’m joined by Andre Portilho, who runs BTG Pactual’s digital assets division.BTG Pactual is one of the largest banks in Brazil and the largest investment bank in Latin America. He previously ran the options desk at BTG when bitcoin came onto his radar in 2017. Since then, BTG has been a leader among financial institutions globally in embracing and utilizing blockchain technology as well as offering crypto products to its clients.Last year, BTG launched its Mynt crypto platform, which offers more than 20 cryptocurrencies to customers through its application. In April 2023, BTG launched its own dollar-backed BTG Dol stablecoin, becoming what appears to be the first financial institution in the world to issue a stablecoin intended for use by retail investors. In this episode we discuss:* How the BTG Dol idea originated earlier this year* The current demand for US dollar exposure among Brazilian investors and BTG customers* BTG’s experience issuing a real estate-backed security token in 2018 * How recent banking and stablecoin crises impacted the BTG Dol’s design* The value proposition of a stablecoin issued by heavily regulated TradFi institution such as BTG Pactual* The uptake of the Mynt platform among retail investors since late 2022Please note that since we recorded this episode, Andre’s team at BTG acquired a 20 percent stake in Lumx Studios, which is one of Brazil’s biggest NFT and Web3 brands. I will discuss this development in a later episode. You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTubeI really enjoyed this conversation with Andre and I hope you do as well. -AWSThank you for reading Brazil Crypto Report. If you enjoyed this content please consider sharing! Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal!For this latest episode, I had the chance to sit down with Leo Schwartz, who is a crypto reporter at Fortune covering focusing on policy and regulation. He attended Web Summit Rio earlier this month and authored a great post-event column entitled "Brazil's unlikely bid to become a global crypto hub" which generated a lot of interest locally and was, frankly, the best content I’ve seen from a mainstream media outlet to date covering the Brazil crypto scene.Leo has prior experience covering technology in Spanish-speaking Latin America - including on the ground coverage of El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption play. But his trip to Web Summit Rio at the beginning of May was his first to Brazil. In this episode we discuss:* Leo’s impressions of the Brazil crypto ecosystem after moderating several Web Summit sessions on the topic and meeting with numerous local industry representatives* How Brazil’s emerging regulatory framework stacks up against other markets* How Brazilian crown jewel crypto companies like Hashdex and Parfin can compete in the global marketplace* His experience in Brazil vis-a-vis covering crypto and tech in Spanish-speaking Latam markets* How the United States’ hostile approach to crypto is forcing companies to diversify into new markets globallyYou can follow Leo on Linkedin, Twitter and through his Fortune author page.Also listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts I really enjoyed this conversation with Leo and I hope you do as wellAbraços,-AWSIf you enjoy this content, please consider subscribing and sharing! Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! Greetings from Consensus 2023 in Austin, Texas! Hashdex has established itself as a global pioneer in crypto asset management since being founded in 2018. It is also one of the crown jewels of Brazil’s crypto ecosystem, with more than US$400 million in AUM. But the firm’s vision expands far beyond just Brazil and Latam. For this latest podcast I spoke with Bruno Ramos de Sousa, Partner and Head of US and Europe, about Hashdex’s rise to prominence in Brazil and its growth efforts worldwide. We discuss how Hashdex blazed a trail for bringing exchange-traded crypto products to market in Brazil and abroad, its strategy for penetrating the US and European markets, the value proposition of exchange-traded crypto products and the outlook for growth as institutional adoption increases. Bruno has been with Hashdex since its beginning and has played an instrumental role in the company’s formation and expansion, so it was great getting his inside perspective. I really enjoyed this conversation with Bruno and I hope you do as well (can also listen on Spotify here). -AWS Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá Pessoal and Happy Tiradentes Day! News broke last week that the CVM, the Brazilian SEC, referred Binance to federal prosecutors late last year for investigation into the exchange’s derivatives offerings in what appears to be defiance of a stop order. Further reporting this week has revealed that the CVM’s inquiry began in June 2022 after a Binance customer service representative told a Portal do Bitcoin reporter, posing as a trader, that he could access the derivatives products by simply changing the language on the Binance platform from Brazilian Portuguese to Portuguese from Portugal. This came after the CVM issued Binance a cease-and-desist order, claiming that the exchange did not have proper authorization to offer these products to Brazilian customers. In December 2022, the CVM referred the matter to federal prosecutors in São Paulo for further investigation asserting that there appears to be evidence of criminal activity. This is an important developing story, so I asked Cláudio Rabin, editor-in chief of Portal do Bitcoin, to come on and discuss what his team has learned thus far about these investigations over the last week and what might happen next. Cláudio also discusses his team’s extensive investigation into Binance’s opaque operating structure in Brazil, which is centered around a shell entity known as B Fintech. Binance is the largest and most systemically important crypto exchange both in Brazil and worldwide, so this is a story that we’ll be tracking closely as new developments come in. (P.S. Apologies as the audio on this recording did not turn out as well as hoped) You can listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts as well! Have a great weekend everybody!-AWSThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! I met up with Jorge Borges, who heads up Fireblocks’ sales and business development operations for Brazil and Latin America, at Ethereum Rio last month to talk about how the company is furthering its presence in the region.Fireblocks is one of the unicorn crypto-native companies to emerge out of the last cycle, with more than 1,300 clients worldwide. It was valued at US$8 billion after it closed a $550 million Series E round in January 2022. The company provides blockchain infrastructure services to digital native and traditional finance customers - ranging from small Web3 gaming startups to the world’s largest custodians and banks like Bank of New York Mellon. In this episode we discuss:* Jorge’s background in finance and tech before he jumped into crypto and digital assets. * Fireblocks’ ethos as a cybersecurity provider that offers a tech stack that enable clients to build their own solutions for tokenization, custody and other use cases* How Fireblocks differs from other institutional infrastructure firms operating in the space right now* Jorge’s experience one year into the job* How Brazil’s TradFi banking sector is approach the Digital Real and asset tokenization, and the role Fireblocks plays as an infrastructure provider for these use cases* Fireblocks’ pilot project with Aave in the Brazilian Central Bank’s Digital Real Lift lab cohortYou can also listen on SpotifyI really enjoyed this conversation with Jorge and I hope you do as well! -AWSThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! We’ve got a special podcast episode today ahead of the Shanghai and Capella hard forks, which are the latest updates to the Ethereum network following the Merge last September. Critically, these updates mean that staked ETH and staking rewards can finally be withdrawn - 2.5 years after staking was first enabled with the launch of the Beacon Chain in December 2020. Rony Szuster covers Ethereum and smart contract platforms for Mercado Bitcoin’s research team. He was kind enough to join the podcast to help us understand these critical updates, the impacts they may have on the market and how they fit into the broader Ethereum roadmap. In this episode we cover:* the difference between Ethereum’s Consensus Layer and Execution Layer, and how the two chains communicate with one another* potential impacts to the market and network security should a large amount of staked ETH be withdrawn and sold* the role of liquid staking platforms like Lido and Rocketpool once withdrawals have been enabled* the viability of ETH staking as an investment opportunity in the Brazilian investment climateYou can find Rony’s latest report on the Shapella fork here. You can connect with him and the rest of the MB research team in the Mercado Bitcoin Discord server.You can also listen on Spotify or on YouTube below Thanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! Nearly two years after first entering the Brazil market, Bitso Brasil received its payment institution license last week from the Brazilian Central Bank. The license will enable the exchange to offer a new array of financial products and services in the market.I took the occasion to catch up with Bitso CEO Daniel Vogel and Thales de Freitas, CEO of Bitso Brasil, to discuss the new license as well as the ups and downs of Bitso’s first two years of operating in Brazil. These include reaching one million customers, adoption of novel cross-border payment mechanisms that use crypto rails and becoming a leader in the crypto regulatory conversation in Brasilia. Other themes we discussed include:* The successes and struggles of launching in Brazil during a complicated market cycle* The importance of building new bridges between crypto and the Tradfi worlds * Bitso’s value proposition to customers in an increasingly competitive market* A glimpse into Bitso’s 2023 Brazil roadmapYou can find Daniel on Twitter. I really enjoyed this conversation with Daniel and Thales and I hope you do as well. You can also catch this episode on Spotify.-AWSThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal,Juliana Walenkamp is the head of institutional sales for Latam at BitGo in Brazil and has spent time representing other Web3 household names like Ripple, Gemini and Transfero in the region. In this conversation we dive into the evolution of BitGo as a company since first offering basic multi-sig products in 2013 to becoming a full-fledged qualified custodian that offers a plethora of other products such as liquidity, staking and access to decentralized finance portals through Metamask. We also touch on: * the challenges international companies like BitGo face when entering Brazil* why BitGo will be applying for a virtual asset service provider license in Brazil * the importance of custodying crypto assets with a regulated or “qualified” custodian with a fiduciary responsibility* how institutional interest in crypto products is growing in Brazil* the importance of asset segregation practices post-FTX* BitGo’s role in the Latam market vis-a-vis competitors like Fireblocks, Coinbase, Gemini, etc. You can also listen on Spotify. I really enjoyed this conversation with Juliana and I hope you do as well. You can connect with Juliana on Linkedin. Have a great week everyone,-AWSThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal!I hope everyone is having a great week! Friends, if you’re not paying attention to the Digital Real project and not understanding what’s going on here, you really need to be. To make that task easier for you, I’ve been putting together a series of interviews gathering different perspectives on this subject. Last week I hosted Gustavo Cunha on the pod to discuss the mechanics of how the CBDC is being designed and the recent pilot announcement (highly recommend listening here if you missed it!), For today’s episode I brought in one of the Brazil’s top crypto journalists and one of the its leading Web3 investors to discuss the potential impacts of this technology on Brazil’s economy. Both are friends and previous guests of the show* João Zecchin is a co-founder of Fuse Capital, which is one of Brazil’s first Web3 native venture capital firms. You can listen to my previous episode with him here.* Paulo Alves is the crypto editor at InfoMoney, which is one of Brazil’s leading financial media publications. (Previous episode here) Some of the themes we discuss:* why the money transfer use case in Brazil has largely been solved by Pix* how the Digital Real will unlock “real world” asset tokenization use cases that produce real yield for holders, and how these developments could unlock new capital flows into the country* what Digital Real innovation will mean for existing commercial banks and how it can stimulate greater competition in the Brazilian financial system* potential new tokenized products and services that could be unlocked via Digital Real infrastructure* some predictions about who will be the biggest winners and losers of this transformationYou can also listen to this episode on Spotify hereI hope you enjoy this conversation with João and Paulo.-AWSThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Olá pessoal! Today, Mauricio Magaldi of Blockchain Insider joins the podcast to discuss his predictions for the Brazil crypto ecosystem in 2023. The last time Maurício’s came on the BCR podcast last June, he had just joined 11:FS, the London-based financial services consultancy, as Global Strategy Director. He gives us an update on his new gig and his insider point-of-view on how financial institutions are approaching crypto and digital transformation amid this bear market. A few of the the other subjects we touch on:* The demise of several noteworthy enterprise blockchain projects from the “old guard” era of 2017-19 and how these enterprise use cases have since modified* The growing interest in asset tokenization across the financial services sector globally and relevant use cases in Brazil, such as real estate and tokenizing rights to football players* The benefits and efficiency gains of tokenization versus TradFi means of fractionalizing assets* The tech savviness of the Brazilian population and how adoption could quickly occur* Why he’s bullish on Web3 social networks in 2023You can follow Mauricío and Blockchain Insider on Spotify and his Portuguese language podcast BlockDrops. Also catch him on TwitterI really enjoyed this conversation with Maurício and I hope you do as well.Abraços,-AWSYou can also listen to this podcast on Spotify!Thanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe

Boa tarde pessoal! The Brazilian Central Bank announced its Digital Real pilot on March 6, marking a milestone in the CBDC’s development. I asked Gustavo Cunha to come on the show to help us understand the state of the project and its roadmap. Gustavo has a wealth of knowledge in the realm of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, and was a great resource to help me understand what makes the Digital Real unique and innovative. You can also listen to this episode on Spotify or YouTube below.I really enjoyed this conversation with Gustavo and I hope you do as well-AWSGustavo Cunha is a Brazilian financial services veteran turned crypto enthusiast, podcaster and writer. In this episode we discuss the Brazilian Central Bank's efforts to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC) called the Digital Real. We discuss:* the Digital Real pilot announced on March 6* the Bank's decision to use Hyperledger Besu for the Digital Real's underlying infrastructure* the goal of the Digital Real serving as infrastructure for a tokenized financial system in Brazil* how the Digital Real stacks up against other CBDC projects around the world* the difference between Pix and the Digital Real, and how the two will interact with one another once fully operative* plans for the Digital Real to be Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible and eventually incorporate new developments from the public blockchain worldFor Portuguese readers I recommend taking a look at his recent column in InfoMoney on the subject. You can follow Gustavo's work on his social channels below:Substack: @FintrenderLinkedIn: @FintrenderInstagram: @FintrenderTwitter: @FintrenderFacebook: @FintrenderPodcast: Fintechs e novos investimentosThanks for reading Brazil Crypto Report! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Brazil Crypto Report at brazilcrypto.substack.com/subscribe