Brazil to Bar Bitcoin and Stablecoin Settlement in Regulated eFX Channel from Oct. 1, 2026

Brazil’s central bank has moved to block the use of bitcoin and stablecoins to settle transactions in the country’s regulated electronic foreign-exchange, or eFX, cross-border payments channel, with the change set to take effect on Oct. 1.

The Banco Central do Brasil, or BCB, published the measure as Resolution BCB No. 561 at the end of April, according to the central bank’s rule listing and multiple reports citing the resolution. Coverage published on April 30 and May 1 said the measure bars settlement using “virtual assets” between a Brazilian eFX provider and its foreign counterparty.

The scope is narrower than a blanket crypto ban. The rule applies to Brazil’s regulated eFX framework for digital cross-border payments and remittances tied to the official foreign-exchange system. It does not amount to a general prohibition on cryptocurrency trading, custody or peer-to-peer transfers in Brazil.

Multiple reports said Resolution 561 amends Resolution BCB No. 277/2022, which governs the eFX system. Under the reported change, providers operating in that channel will no longer be allowed to use crypto assets, including bitcoin and stablecoins, as the settlement rail for payments and receipts with overseas partners. In practice, that pushes settlement inside the regulated eFX system back onto conventional supervised rails.

That matters most for remittance and cross-border payment companies that had used crypto within the regulated framework to move value internationally. The change does not mean Brazilians can no longer buy or hold crypto, but it does close off one specific use case inside a central bank-supervised payments channel.

The rule is reported to take effect on Oct. 1, 2026. Reports citing the resolution also said authorized eFX providers must update their registration in the BCB’s Unicad system by Oct. 30, 2026.

For companies currently offering eFX services without central bank authorization, the reported deadline to apply is May 31, 2027. Those firms may continue operating while their applications are being processed, according to the same reports, but they will not be permitted to settle through virtual assets in the meantime.

The new measure also adds a set of operational controls for eFX providers, according to multiple reports on the resolution. Those include segregated client-funds accounts, monthly reporting through the central bank’s foreign-exchange system, and a requirement to keep transaction records for 10 years.

The central bank has a normative listing page for Resolution 561. The full text of the resolution was not directly reviewed here, so the specific provisions are based on multiple contemporaneous reports describing the rule and its amendments to the eFX framework.

The move fits into a broader tightening of oversight around crypto-linked financial activity in Brazil, where authorities have been rolling out authorization and supervision rules for virtual-asset service providers. But the immediate effect is more targeted: It changes how regulated cross-border payment providers can settle transactions, not whether crypto can exist in Brazil’s financial market at all.

For consumers, the change may be largely invisible. For payment companies and remittance operators, it is more consequential. Firms serving Brazil through the regulated eFX system will need to ensure that settlement with foreign counterparties no longer relies on bitcoin, stablecoins or other virtual assets once the new rule comes into force.