Brazilian Congressman Calls for Hearing on Bitcoin Regulation

Brazilian Congressman Manoel Junior has called for a public hearing to discuss the regulation of Bitcoin and digital currencies.

If Junior’s initiative is approved, the hearing will include representatives from the Central Bank of Brazil, the Federal Tax Agency of Brazil, the Brazilian Anti-Fraud Agency, and the local bitcoin industry.

Safiri Felix, CEO of CoinBR, the only digital currency company to receive an official invitation, said discussions about holding such a hearing had been underway since the Brazilian Senate released a report on bitcoin technology in December 2014, but that report at the time stated that there was no need to regulate bitcoin.

Felix says:

“The Brazilian government realizes that it is time to have a deeper discussion about Bitcoin, and we are working hard to learn from the United States, Canada and Europe on how to develop a good legal framework for the market development.”

Now Rep. Junior’s initiative further illustrates why the government should explore issues surrounding Bitcoin, especially since there has been so little discussion about the technology’s potential impact on financial markets.

Junior says:

“As Bitcoin usage increases, there are some questions that need to be answered about Bitcoin. For example: Can Bitcoin replace fiat currencies as a means of payment? Or a unit of account? Or a form of store of value? If so, how does this affect the Brazilian authorities’ definition of Bitcoin and the exchange rate policy they formulate?”

Junior also said that as Bitcoin technology becomes more and more widely used, governments can no longer avoid it and should learn more about it to ensure its security.

Reactions from the local Bitcoin community

With Junior’s initiative, the possibility of such a hearing is creating mixed emotions in the Brazilian bitcoin community, both with excitement and concern.

For example, Brazilian entrepreneurs expressed the hope that more Bitcoin companies would attend the conference, which is of course the ultimate goal of the hearing, according to Felix.

Felix said the opposition came from those who advocate libertarianism, but he said CoinBR would participate in the hearing as an active supporter.

Marcelo Miranda, CEO of Bitcoin trading platform FlowBTC, opposed such a hearing, believing that differences in local consumer ideology would lead to negative impacts on the hearing, and questioned CoinBR's motivation for participating in the hearing.

Miranda says:

"It is difficult to judge whether the hearing is moving in the right direction or in a direction that is detrimental to the market development, because we have not received much information yet."