Aquino refers to the new capital requirements issued by the bank that establish that each institution would have to hold up to $7.2 million in capital, depending on its classification, according to Resolutions 519 and 520.
Earlier reports indicate that these measures have already triggered the exit of numerous companies from the Brazilian market, including Bitnuvem, NovaDAX, Digitra, and Coinext.
Furthermore, Aquino also stressed that a large number of the firms that filed their applications did not include an audited financial statement, an element requested by regulation.
Aquino’s statements raised alarms in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, as this might bring a reduction in the options Brazilian institutions and customers have to access digital asset financial markets.
João Paulo Oliveira, founder of NoxPay, a crypto-enabled payment service provider, estimated that a good number of these institutions might be rejected by the central bank even after submitting their applications.
“Judging by the tone of his talk, I think half of the 120 VASPs on the list are going to get rejected in this first round,” he declared on social media.
Some have suggested that institutions might have applied knowing they would be rejected to buy time and avoid being blocked by banks, which, since Nov. 6, have been banned from providing services to institutions that did not submit applications. Furthermore, companies that did not apply have until Nov. 30 to wind down their operations.
While companies can file applications to enter the Brazilian market, going forward, the central bank has established a period of up to two years to consider these requests, during which time the exchange will not be able to operate until the application is approved.
