Cryptocurrencies tied to national soccer teams have failed to keep the attention of 2022 FIFA World Cup fans, with many soccer-linked fan token prices plummeting since the tournament began. Between Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Argentina, the associated digital fan tokens have fallen between 60% to 88% percent in price since the start of the World Cup on Nov. 20, according to CoinGecko. This is despite Brazil, Argentina and Portugal reaching the quarter-finals, while Spain was a strong contender up until they were knocked out on Dec. 6. The tokens do generally react to immediate results, with Spain's SNFT token down …

Welcome to Law Decoded, your weekly digest of all the major developments in the field of regulation. There was some substantial good news for crypto last week, but the prevailing storyline is still the unfolding of FTX. While the extradition of the failed exchange’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried seemed pretty logical from the beginning of the saga, last week, the 30-year-old got the first official call: The Texas State Securities Board (SSB) invited the former CEO to attend the hearing on the alleged sale of unregistered securities on Feb. 2. SSB’s director of enforcement Joe Rotunda hopes to get a Cease …

As the global crypto community is still licking its wounds from the FTX collapse, a liquidity crisis continues to spread around centralized exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) alike. It is soon to be decided whether the coming regulation triggered by FTX’s bankruptcy will bring a silver lining to crypto. The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, the lower house of the country’s federal legislative body, has passed a regulatory framework that legalizes the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method within the country. It is estimated that 10 million Brazilians, or about 5% of the population, trade crypto assets. The largest …

While Brazil has not made Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender as El Salvador did last year, the South-American nation has passed a law that legalizes crypto payments throughout the country. The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, a federal legislative body, has passed a regulatory framework that legalizes the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method within the country. While this makes significant progress for crypto within Brazil, the law still requires the signature of the president of Brazil for it to be enacted. The passing of the bill does not make any cryptocurrencies legal tender within the country. However, the bill …

The crumbling of the FTX crypto empire may have damaged Brazilian retail and institutional sentiment toward crypto. However, its impact won't affect everyday citizens — who will still use crypto for cross-border transactions. Reflecting on the recent fall of FTX, Thiago César, the CEO of fiat on-ramp provider Transfero Group said that the exchange’s fall, like in many countries around the world, has hurt confidence around centralized crypto exchanges and crypto in general. Transfero Group is tied in closely with the Brazilian crypto ecosystem and FTX as it was the fiat on-and-off-ramp provider for the exchange and is also the …

In a close race with outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also known simply as ‘Lula,’ won the country’s presidential election following a run-off race. According to data from Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, Lula defeated Bolsonaro in an Oct. 30 run-off election with 50.9% of the vote — roughly 60.3 million people to the soon-to-be former president’s 58.2 million. Though the election outcome showed Lula has the right to take office starting in January 2023, reports have suggested that Bolsonaro may intend to challenge the results. Democracia. pic.twitter.com/zvnBbnQ3HG — Lula 13 (@LulaOficial) October 30, 2022 Lula, who …

Major global bank Santander continues exploring the benefits of blockchain technology, with a local branch implementing blockchain for vehicle trading and car registration. Santander Brasil has launched testing of a blockchain-based tokenization platform for transferring ownership of used cars in Brazil, Cointelegraph Brasil reported on Oct. 19. The platform is designed to automate the process of transferring property registration by deploying smart contracts based on a delivery versus payment (DVP), a settlement method guaranteeing the ownership transfer after successful payment. Santander’s latest vehicle registration solution is developed in partnership with Parfin, major digital custody and Web3 infrastructure provider in Latin …

Remittance payments, fiat fears, and profit-chasing have been the three most significant drivers of crypto adoption in Latin America, according to a new report. The seventh-largest crypto market in the world saw the value of cryptocurrencies received by individuals rocket 40% between July 2021 to June 2022, reaching $562 billion, according to an Oct. 20 report from Chainalysis. Part of the surge was attributed to remittances, with the region's overall remittance market estimated to have reached $150 billion in 2022. Chainalysis noted that crypto-based service adoption was “uneven, but swift.” The firm pointed to one Mexican exchange operating in the …

Nubank, a fintech bank in Brazil, announced the creation of the Nucoin token on the Polygon blockchain on Oct. 19, paving the way for a rewards program for its 70 million clients across Latin America. The company said that the token will be available in the first half of 2023, and will recognize customer loyalty and engagement with the bank products without cost or fees for its users. The tokens can be redeemed for perks, discounts in selected products. Fernando Czapski, General Manager for Nucoin at Nubank, stated: "This project is another step ahead in our belief in the transformative …

Digital asset custody platform GK8 has partnered with 2ND Market, a Brazilian crypto holding company, to expand cryptocurrency product offerings in Brazil — a move both companies say would support continued adoption in Latin America’s largest economy. Under the partnership agreement, GK8 will license its institutional-grade custody platform to 2ND Market to give Brazilian users access to a wider range of crypto products and services. In particular, 2ND Market will leverage GK8’s integration with MetaMask Institutional, a multi-custodial wallet, to provide users with access to decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 crypto assets. Founded in 2018, GK8 reportedly manages roughly $50 …

The number of companies holding cryptocurrency in Brazil has reached new record highs as of August, amid an increased trust in cryptocurrencies and high inflation rates. According to local media reports, the country’s taxation authority, Receita Federal do Brasil (RFB), also known as the Federal Revenue of Brazil, recorded 12,053 unique organizations declaring crypto on their balance sheets in August 2022. The number is a 6.1% increase from the 11,360 companies in July and is the month with the highest recorded number of companies with crypto holdings to date. The RFB noted that Bitcoin (BTC) is the most popular cryptocurrency …

Changpeng Zhao (CZ) led crypto exchange Binance has opened up two offices in Brazil as the firm looks to tap the country’s emerging crypto market, with reportedly more than 34.5 million crypto users there. According to an Oct. 3 announcement, Binance has now opened offices in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with more than 150 employees to be spread across the firm’s operations in Brazil. “The exchange operates in full compliance with the Brazilian regulatory landscape and believes that regulation is the only way for the digital asset industry to grow and reach the general public, allowing more people …