The Coaf (Council for Control of Financial Activities, linked to the Central Bank) said this Friday (2) that, without a new law to be approved by Congress, companies in the cryptocurrency sector will be outside the information system that prevents laundering. of money and the financing of terrorism.
Classified as providers of virtual asset services (PSAVs), the brokers had been enabled on Siscoaf — an electronic portal with restricted access, through which banks, jewelers, finance companies and other companies communicate atypical financial transactions of their customers.
Based on these alerts, the agency produces intelligence reports that support investigations by the police and the Public Ministry on suspected crimes.
The access of these companies to Siscoaf must be cut from Monday (5). According to Coaf, the inclusion was “on an experimental and provisional basis, before a framework of rules was consolidated that made the communications of these companies mandatory”.
The evaluation work has been completed, and only companies that have this obligation included in the Washing Law can be regularly included in Siscoaf, in addition to being “previously registered with the competent authority to regulate or supervise their activity”.
The requirement exists, according to the agency, to prevent unauthorized legal entities from accessing the system. However, cryptocurrency exchanges are not on the roll of the legislation, which dates back to 1998.
Coaf says it will wait for the approval of bill 4,401, of 2021, by federal deputies to definitively include the sector in the system. The text, according to the agency, would resolve the alleged legal gap. It has already been approved by the Senate and, if it passes the Chamber without significant changes, it will go to presidential sanction.
The agency states that, until then, companies in the sector will be able to continue sending manifestations to Coaf, regardless of authorization to use the system, through other means, such as the Fala.BR platform, accessible through the website https://falabr.cgu.gov. .br/, an ombudsman channel made available by the government to ordinary citizens.
Use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering worries inspectors
The use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering schemes worries investigative bodies. The sector operates without regulation in Brazil, which makes inspection difficult.
In 2021, cryptocurrency transactions in Brazil exceeded R$ 100 billion, according to ABCripto (Brazilian Association of Cryptoeconomy).
The sector owes a boom in the country, with the entry of giants such as Binance, leader in the world market.
Such as Sheet reported in July, the Central Bank notified Banco Acesso — until then a partner of Binance — about the high risk of money laundering in operations and required the submission of detailed information about customers.
The problem, according to the autarchy, was that the brokerage moved BRL 40 billion in 2021 without Access having any control over who the investors were and whether the origin of the funds was lawful.
At the time, Binance stated that it has “robust tools and processes to ensure the security of operations for all users”.
Binance was one of the companies used in the fraudulent financial pyramid scheme attributed to former waiter Glaidson Acácio dos Santos, known as the “bitcoin pharaoh”. He was arrested by the Federal Police in the Kryptos operation.
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