Tougher penalties for crypto-related financial crimes

The Special Committee of Brazil's House of Representatives has approved a bill toughening penalties for financial crimes that use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, according to an official announcement on Wednesday.

The latest regulatory amendments are part of the draft law 2303 / 15 , which increases the size of the fines from one - third of the amount of money laundered to two - thirds.

The bill also proposes raising the minimum prison term from three to four years, increasing the maximum prison term from 10 years to 16 years and eight months, in addition to a fine.

According to the Declaration, the project is subject to further discussion by the whole, where he confirmed the Federal Attorney Orio Ribeiro, that this new project will help the state to protect Brazilians from fraud schemes encrypted.

He noted Ribeiro that more than 300 thousand people have been affected by the financial pyramid schemes encoded currency, in Rio de Janeiro , the Rio De Norte :

“People have nowhere to go with no regulation, and the market will move forward and adjust in the country.

There will be no more exploiters using technology to deceive millions of Brazilians.”

Ribeiro's opinion of the bill in Brazil

Ribeiro was bullish on other aspects of the bill, which regulates broader cryptocurrency operations such as trading, custody, mandatory exchanges and payments.

He asserts that Bitcoin will become accepted as a payment method in the country, once the project is passed, as the country has seen some signs of increased development and adoption of the cryptocurrency, in recent times.

In August, the head of the Brazilian Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto , called on the country to adopt the crypto market, by reformulating local regulations.

The country's stock exchange then launched a Bitcoin ETF in June, having previously been listed in several crypto-traded funds, earlier this year.