Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: $400 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme founders were arrested in Argentina, the Central Bank of Brazil established cryptocurrency regulation as a priority, and the Argentine Fintech Chamber proposed crypto tax exemptions in Argentina.
Latam Insights: Argentina Arrests $400 Million Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme Founders, Brazil Defines Crypto Regulation as a Priority
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$400 Million Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme Founders Arrested in Argentina
The Federal Police of Argentina reported capturing two individuals, a woman and a man, founders of a Ponzi scheme that moved over $400 million worth of crypto in Brazil. The operation managed to track the location of these two individuals after entering the country with fake names.
The man, known as “Joao Felipe Costa” in Argentina, was identified by the local press as Antonio Inacio Da Silva Neto, one of the founders of Braiscompany, a company aiming to “build financial freedom for thousands of people through information.” The woman was identified as Fabricia Farias Campos, Da Silva’s partner.
The arrest was preceded by an intense investigation, which found the couple’s location tracking different purchases and payments made using their fake names in Argentina. The couple is now in the custody of Argentine authorities, who will have to sign the extradition orders to send them to Brazil, where they will be incarcerated.
Brazil Establishes Cryptocurrency Regulation as a Priority
The Central Bank of Brazil has defined tokenization and the regulation of virtual assets service providers (VASPs) as a priority for its regulation directorate this year. In a list, the institution included these two items under the innovation topic, with artificial intelligence (AI), BaaS (Banking-as-a-service), and the Open Finance concept, linked to integrating the data of the whole banking system.
According to local sources, Ricardo Moura, head of the Central Bank’s Exchange Regulation Department, revealed that the most relevant of these topics were simplifying the investment process for non-residents, making interbank foreign exchange operations more efficient, and defining the regulation for the use of virtual assets in foreign exchanges and international capital.
Argentine Fintech Chamber Proposes Crypto Regulation Featuring Tax Exemptions
The Argentine Fintech Chamber, a membership organization that groups more than 200 companies in the country, has made a cryptocurrency regulation proposal establishing tax exemptions for cryptocurrency assets to power the industry growth.
Ignacio Plaza, president of the Chamber, stated:
We want to foster an environment conducive to innovation, economic development and financial inclusion, where regulatory and tax treatment provides incentives that stimulate investment and growth in this industry.
The proposal, which aims to achieve parity between the tax obligations of crypto and other financial assets, makes cryptocurrency assets held in national exchanges exempt from paying capital gains taxes and other obligations.
According to earlier reports, Argentina is on the verge of issuing cryptocurrency exchange regulation via executive order, due to an upcoming evaluation from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) group.
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