#178: Drex Resistance

Plus: Hashdex crypto index ETF goes live in US; Worldcoin's woes in Brazil

Olá pessoal!

Welcome back to ????Brazil Crypto Report for the week of February 10-14, 2025.

I hope you all managed to avoid getting rugged by the Javier Milei memecoin over the weekend. Kristen and I are going to publish a special Latam Crypto Report later this week analyzing the situation, but TLDR is it looks pretty ugly. Stay safe out there gang.

Lots going on in Brazil this week to dive into, most notably the first significant resistance movement against the Drex CBDC project.

?? What’s in this week’s BCR?

• Hashdex has launched the first crypto index ETF in the US
• ANPD denies Worldcoin’s appeal, orders suspension of WLD payments
• Federal Deputy Julia Zanetta launches anti-Drex petition
• Ripple to enable instant payments between Brazil and Portugal
• Hamsa testing Microsoft ZKP Nova privacy solution with 8 Drex consortia

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

- AWS

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??New Podcast

This week's episode is with Danielle Teixeira who is a project manager with FENASBAC . We talk about Fenasbac's startup accelerator programs, such as Next and Lift Lab, and how companies participating in these initiatives have helped shape financial innovation in Brazil over the last several years.

Deputy Zanetta launches anti-Drex petition

Federal Deputy Julia Zanetta has launched a campaign and petition pushing back against the Drex CBDC project, calling it a threat to financial liberty.

The petition states:

“With Drex, your every move will be tracked, and it only takes one click for your account to be blocked or your funds to disappear — whatever the excuse. We are talking about total control over your financial life!”

Zanetta has been on the anti-Drex bandwagon for some time. She recently introduced legislation that prohibits the depreciation of physical money and has proposed a constitution amendment requiring that Congress authorize the creation of a CBDC.

Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro has also thrown his support behind the initiative, promoting the petition on X.

Speaking at the Smart Summit 2025 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Deputy Eros Biondini, author of legislation to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in Brazil, defended the Drex opposition movement and suggested that the Central Bank’s actions are intended to restrict Brazilians’ financial freedom:

“Although this is not an ideological debate, we know that there are many countries that seek to control people's lives, to monitor them. Speaking of freedom, we have a great concern, because in Brazil it is no different.

Speaking on the same panel, Deputy Aureo Ribeiro, champion of crypto in the Brazilian Congress, defended Drex and said the opponents are overreacting.

“This is fake news. These are narrative wars that harm the business environment in Brazil and harm the economy…Drex is not a left or right issue, but a technological revolution that is being implemented by the Central Bank, just like Pix. Drex is in line with what has been developed in other countries and is a significant step forward for Brazil.”

Portal do Bitcoin CoinTelegraph Brasil Livecoins BeinCrypto CoinTelegraph Brasil

Ripple to enable instant payments between Brazil and Portugal

The financial infrastructure company is partnering with Unicambio to enable instant cross-border payments between Portugal and Brazil through Ripple Payments.

The solution uses digital assets and will make these international payments “faster, more economical and efficient”, the company said.

It marks the first time that Ripple ’s payments solution will be available in Portugal, and gives it a presence along the popular Portugal-Brazil corridor.

Unicambio corporate customers will be able to transfer funds and settle payments in just minutes.

Cassie Craddock , Ripple’s Managing Director for UK and Europe, said in a statement:

“Our partnership with Unicambio represents a significant milestone in Ripple's expansion in Europe. Portugal has developed a dynamic crypto ecosystem, and we are excited to make our payments solution available to partners in the country.”

Last year, Ripple launched a similar remittance service with Mercado Bitcoin for the Brazil-Portugal corridor.

Portal do Bitcoin CriptoFacil BlockNews CoinTelegraph Brasil Livecoins

ANPD denies Worldcoin’s appeal, orders suspension of WLD payments

Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) dismissed an appeal filed by Tools for Humanity, the company behind the World (formerly Worldcoin) project, and maintained an earlier order preventing payments of WLD tokens to users who register their personal iris data with the company.

The service is now effectively prohibited in the country.

The company had previously requested an additional 45 days to implement changes, but the appeal was denied.

TFH said in a statement:

"To allow World to complete the changes in coordination with ANPD and ensure compliance during this process, we are voluntarily and temporarily pausing the verification service. World's physical spaces will remain open to provide education and information to the public and we apologize for any inconvenience to those who wanted to join World now.

CoinTelegraph Brasil Portal do Bitcoin InfoMoney Valor

Hamsa testing Microsoft ZKP Nova privacy solution with 8 Drex consortia

The tokenization company has been working behind the scenes of the Drex project over the last year via a partnership with Microsoft. Specifically, the company is working to adapt and test Microsoft’s ZKP Nova privacy solution.

Eight of the 16 consortia in the Drex pilot are testing the solution. Recall that these consortia are anchored by banks and financial institutions that would be issuing tokenized assets on the Drex platform should it be deployed.

Henrique Teixeira , Managing Director for the Americas at Hamsa , told Valor:

“ZKP Nova meets all the requirements that the Central Bank set in the first phase of Drex and now our job is to verify whether it meets the use cases of phase 2 as well.”

Being developed by the Central Bank of Brazil, the Drex CBDC/tokenization platform has faced challenges finding privacy solutions that are both scalable and compliant with the country’s data protection law. The other solutions being tested are Zether, EY’s Starlight, and Parfin ’s Rayls .

Despite these challenges, Teixeira still sees Drex as compatible with existing legal and supervisory frameworks:

“So far, we have not seen anything in Drex that would change the rules we already have today from the point of view of supervision and control by the Central Bank and regulatory entities. It brings advantages such as programmability and digitalization and is not changing what we have today in relation to privacy.”

Teixeira also explained that the leadership transition at the bank from Roberto Campos Neto to Gabriel Galipolo has not slowed down Drex development

“The Central Bank has not slowed down. We continue to have conversations with them. We presented our solution, they remain interested and we will disclose more use cases without any setbacks.”

Hashdex launches US’s first Crypto Index ETF

The Brazil-based crypto asset manager announced the launch of the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF. It’s the first multi-asset crypto ETF to be available to US investors.

Hashdex serves as the sponsor of the product, Paralel Distributors LLC is the marketing agent and Coinbase Custody and BitGo Trust are the custodians. U.S. Bank Global Fund Services will serve as the fund administrator.

Hashdex CEO Marcelo Sampaio said in a statement:

“With the launch of NCIQ, we are proud to deliver a familiar and readily tradeable U.S.-based product that provides seamless exposure to bitcoin and ether.”

Portal do Bitcoin CoinTelegraph Brasil

??Brazil Crypto News Rundown

?? Markets

• MB | Mercado Bitcoin is partnering with Plume Network to tokenize US$40 million worth of Brazilian real world assets like asset-backed securities, consumer credit, corporate debt and accounts receivable. MB will use Plume Network’s infrastructure and Layer 1 blockchain to give global consumers the opportunity to invest in tokenized Brazilian assets. (The Block) (Portal do Bitcoin)
• Bloomberg announced the launch of its Bloomberg Bitcoin & Gold Blend indexes in Brazil. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
• There are more than 245,000 investors in 16 crypto ETFs currently trading on Brazil’s B3 stock exchange - as of the end of 2024. That number is up 16% year-over-year. (Valor Investe)
• The B3 now trades more than R$150 million (US$26 million) in crypto ETFs per day, Felipe Goncalves - head of interest and currency products - revealed at Smart Summit

“Brazil was one of the pioneers, with great work between B3, CVM and managers, which made it possible to launch the first crypto asset ETFs in 2021. And today we can say that Brazil is one of the most developed countries in this area.” (CoinTelegraph Brasil)

?? Adoption

• Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira led the country’s delegationn to the Summit for Action on Artificial Intelligence in Paris. The government’s official position is that AI be structured to promote development and reduce inequality, protect human rights and guarantee non-discriminatory access to the technology. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
• Transfero Group has partnered with Lightspark to accelerate bitcoin Lightning Network transactions in the region. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
• Modular Carnaval, hosted by Modular Crypto ?? , will take place in Belo Horizonte February 26 - March 1.
• Ethereum Brasil will take place June 9-10 in Sao Paulo during Febraban Tech week, while Ethereum Rio will occur April 24-25 in Rio de Janeiro, BeinCrypto learned.
• GoLedger is launching GoChain, a blockchain network management platform that offers creation of no-code smart contracts. CEO Marcos Sarres said in a statement:

“We have created a platform that simplifies the implementation and management of networks and smart contracts. This allows any organization to take advantage of the potential of technology in an accessible and secure way.” (BlockNews)

?? Policy, Regulation and Enforcement

• Representatives of the Brazilian Exchange Association, known as ABRACOM in Portuguese, argue that exchange brokers and payment institutions will not be able to with stablecoins under the framework proposed by Brazil’s Central Bank. (Valor) (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
• Deputy Julia Zanetta introduced legislation that would guarantee legal protection for the self-custody of crypto assets. A number of lobby groups have raised their voices in support of this position, such as the Free Market Institute. Executive Director Rodrigo Marinho said in a statement:

“The attempt to restrict self-custody violates the principles of the free market and private autonomy. Decentralization is the essence of the cryptoeconomy, and any movement that forces users to depend on intermediaries represents a dangerous setback.” (InfoMoney) (CriptoFacil)

• The Receita Federal, Brazil’s tax authority, says it will publish new rules for taxing and declaring cryptocurrencies by March. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
• Giulia Possamai has assumed leadership of ABcripto - Associa??o Brasileira de Criptoeconomia ’s compliance committee alongside Julieti Brambila of Santander. She is compliance director of PeerBR , which is the tokenization arm of GCB. (Valor)
• Portal do Bitcoin has a good roundup of the state of the various crypto regulation projects underway in Brazil.
• Daniel Coquieri has an op-ed summarizing the Roadmap for Action in Cryptoassets released by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, which provides guidance on how authorities and institutions can work together to provide clarity and safety on the topic. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
• Federal Deputy Ulisses Guimar?es introduced legislation calling for digital technologies like blockchain to help modernize the sanitary inspection of artisanal products of animal origin. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
• Brazil’s government announced the creation of a national database of citizens prohibited from using online betting websites. A public consultation about the registry will be opened in April, with a computerized system being implemented in the second half of the year. (CoinTelegraph Brasil)
• Civil Police in Rio Grande do Sul launched Operation Kairós to dismantle a crypto pyramid scheme that resulted in millions in losses. (Portal do Bitcoin)
• Legislation introduced in Brazil’s Senate may protect the privacy of consumers’ Pix transactions (withdrawals and deposits) to crypto exchanges and wallets. (CoinTelegraph Brasil) (Livecoins)
• Two Brazilians were victims of a human trafficking operation that lured them to Thailand and forced them to work up to 17 hours a day carrying out online cryptocurrency scams. Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a consular alert that instances of this type of kidnapping are becoming more common. (Portal do Bitcoin) (Livecoins)