Brazil's central bank has ordered cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country to delay large outbound transfers by up to 24 hours, under a new rule aimed at giving fraud victims and institutions a window to intervene before stolen funds leave the banking system. Resolution BCB No. 584/2026, issued August 7, takes effect January 1, 2027.
The rule applies to transfers exceeding $10,000 — whether sent as a single transaction or split across multiple transfers in one day — as well as smaller transactions that an exchange's own risk systems flag as suspicious. It covers both reais and crypto sent abroad or moved into self-custody wallets. Exchanges can release a held transfer early if their review turns up no evidence of wrongdoing, but they must document each decision and notify the customer that a hold was placed.
Why the Central Bank Is Acting Now
The central bank was explicit about its reasoning, stating that "cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins, are being used to move funds obtained through financial fraud before victims or institutions can recover them." The new rule effectively hands exchanges expanded compliance duties, requiring them to weigh risk based on the customer, the transaction pattern, the counterparty, and the destination jurisdiction — a level of scrutiny closer to what traditional banks already apply to international wires.
Related: Treasury Sanctions Two More Iran-Linked Crypto Exchanges
The move builds on a rule the central bank introduced in May 2026 that barred stablecoin and crypto settlement in cross-border payments outright, and comes as Brazil grapples with roughly $318 billion in on-chain crypto transaction volume flowing through the country between July 2024 and June 2025 — nearly a third of all crypto activity in Latin America — some of it routed through Brazilian platforms by international money-laundering networks.
Industry Pushback
Not everyone in Brazil's crypto industry welcomes the change. Regina Pedroso, president of Brazilian tokenization group Abtoken, warned the policy "could impose costs on legitimate users and weaken the competitiveness of domestic exchanges," arguing that ordinary customers making legitimate transfers will bear the friction of a rule aimed at a much smaller pool of bad actors. With Brazil's central bank increasingly viewed as a regulatory bellwether for the region, the 24-hour hold could become a template other Latin American regulators consider adopting.
