Brazil is quickly becoming one of the most closely watched regulatory environments in crypto. That was the throughline of a recent fireside chat moderated by Livecoins, featuring Jason Jiang, Chief Business Officer of CertiK, and Daniel Hott, Head of Legal & Compliance at Coins.xyz. The discussion was focused on the implementation of Brazil's regulatory framework for virtual assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).
The conversation covered what separates prepared operators from unprepared ones, how regulatory clarity changes the calculus inside institutional risk committees, why dialogue between regulators, operators, and security companies matters more than ever, and what evidence regulators and institutional partners actually look for when a global company enters a new regulated market.
Compliance Is a Choice, Not a Checkbox
Asked what will most clearly separate prepared operators from unprepared ones under Brazil's new framework, Jiang pushed back on the idea that any single rule does the sorting. "I don't think there's a single regulation rule that will separate the prepared ones and unprepared ones," he said. "The Brazilian Central Bank is doing a marvelous job of providing the guidelines for the institutions to get onto the regulation track. And with that, the entities running their operations within Brazil face a determination point where they decide whether they want to get onto the regulation track or not. This is a decision that's really up to them."
Hott framed that same dynamic from inside a company navigating it. "When an institution decides to enter the digital assets world, the Central Bank has rolled out a clear requirement, not only for VASPs but also for the operators within this market," he said. "This really distinguishes the ones that are deciding to be on the regulated track and the ones that are deciding not to. Coins.ph has done a marvelous job of getting onto that track. This really is an enabler for the mass adoption of crypto initiatives, and we think it's a good sign for the market."
When Regulators Pick Up the Phone
The panel returned repeatedly to how important open communication between regulators, operators, and security providers has become as Brazil's framework takes shape. "We're very pleased to see how easily accessible the Central Bank is to the general public. Two days ago (from the date of the fireside chat), a post discussed the possibility of extending licensing deadlines to the end of October. That's quite amazing. We've never gotten that kind of treatment from other countries in the world," said Jiang.
He connected that accessibility to how early-stage the industry still is. "About 70% of large institutions have some digital asset developments within their companies, which is a great sign. But because it's such a new thing and hasn't matured, everybody is really learning and trying to mix innovation with regulation. It's essential for regulators, builders, and security companies like us to work together and find a sensible solution that encourages innovation while promoting safety."
The Four-Point Test for Entering a New Market
Pressed on what independent evidence regulators, institutional partners, and users should look for when a global company enters a regulated market like Brazil, Jiang laid out a four-part framework drawn from CertiK's work with large institutions.
"The first is being compliant with local regulation," he said. "Second is building the infrastructure that can support their operation within the region. For instance, if a company uses AWS worldwide, is that infrastructure strong enough to support their Brazilian operation at scale? Third is on-chain monitoring, because of the uniqueness of blockchain, they need a sound on-chain solution to monitor ongoing operations. Fourth is having OpSec procedures that can deal with emerging situations when incidents happen — reporting to police, freezing assets across platforms, answering legal challenges." He added a fifth, less technical factor that ties the rest together: building consumer confidence.
How Brazil Stacks Up Against MiCA and the U.S.
Asked to weigh in on Brazil's progress specifically, Jiang situated it against the other major regulatory regimes CertiK works with. "In each region we see distinct differences in where they're prioritizing their emphasis," he said. "MiCA is very much looking at it from a consumer protection point of view, the US is very much looking at the deployment of stablecoins, and here, I have to say Brazil's Central Bank did a great job. They probably have the most detailed regulations about cryptocurrency. In that perspective, they're leading the world on this. Of course, with any new framework there's an adoption period where local companies need to comply, and that will create some work. But we're very bullish about the Brazil market. We see very good use cases for crypto and blockchain technologies here, and I think it's very suitable for mass adoption."
Trust Is the Product
Jiang reflected on CertiK's decision to formally enter the Brazilian market. "CertiK was established back in 2018, and we're considered the largest security provider in this industry," he said. "We've decided to enter this market to provide our services — not only security services like auditing and penetration testing, but also compliance-related and advisory services. We're here for the long run, and we're hoping to work with many of the players in this market, including Coins.ph, to promote the use cases of blockchain technology."
Hott closed with his own read on what success will look like. "Brazil has a framework for companies to operate on, and if it's done well, Brazil could be a regional differentiator. But it's not just about the regulations. Companies need to care about security and compliance. Being compliant is great, but if you don't have a company like CertiK to say, 'your security is audited,' you don't have trust. Brazil is a challenging market with a lot of regulations, but at the end of the day, the companies that focus on security and on delivering a better product will succeed. If Brazilian regulators put the effort into enforcement, Brazil will be prominent in the crypto markets of the world."
The conversation made the case that Brazil's regulatory rigor is a foundation for it, and that the operators who treat compliance and security as inseparable will be the ones who define the market's next phase.
