Brazil Blocks Crypto in Cross-Border Payments, Tightens Rules on Digital Remittances

Brazil’s central bank, Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), has barred crypto assets from settlement inside regulated cross-border eFX payment rails, closing a stablecoin route used by remittance providers while keeping ordinary crypto trading legal.

The BCB published Resolution BCB No. 561 on April 30, changing rules for eFX, the country’s regulated framework for digital international payments, withdrawals and transfers. 

The rule says payments or receipts between an eFX provider and its foreign counterparty must be carried out through traditional foreign exchange operations or non-resident Brazilian real accounts, not virtual assets.

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BCB Orders Fiat Rails to Return

The restriction does not amount to a blanket crypto ban in Brazil because investors and companies can still buy, sell, custody and transfer digital assets under existing rules, but eFX providers cannot use those assets as infrastructure for regulated international payment settlement.

Companies that currently provide international payment services without central bank authorisation may continue operating temporarily if they apply for authorisation by May 31, 2027. 

Moreover, authorised institutions already providing eFX services must update their registration in the central bank’s Unicad system by Oct. 30, 2026.

It’s a lot more complex than that, though. The new framework also requires segregated accounts for eFX-related client funds, monthly reporting through the central bank’s foreign exchange system, and transaction records kept for 10 years.

USDT accounted for roughly two thirds of that activity, while Bitcoin represented 11%. Regulators have treated that concentration as a cross-border payments issue as much as a trading issue, because dollar-pegged tokens can move value outside traditional bank and correspondent networks.

The eFX change may raise costs for fintechs that build low-cost remittance products around stablecoin liquidity. Models that used crypto settlement to avoid correspondent-bank fees and shorten processing times must now move those regulated flows back to fiat channels.

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