Last month Brazilian president Inácio Lula da Silva and his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernandez, reignited the idea of a common currency as a means towards an economically independent future.

Banco do Brasil, the South American country's oldest bank, says it's now possible to do what many blockchain enthusiasts have long wanted — the ability to pay the taxman in crypto.

The Central Bank of Brazil will focus its first digital real tests on determining the levels of privacy and security that can be achieved with the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) infrastructure. The tests will be conducted later this year and will set up a simplified operation to transact with a still-to-be-determined tokenized asset.

The Eurozone of the South: A Regional Currency to Strengthen Trade and Reduce Dependence on the US Dollar

Crypto exchange Binance and payments provider Mastercard are teaming up once again, this time to launch a prepaid Binance card in Brazil.

Binance, the biggest crypto exchange by trading volume, has partnered with Mastercard to launch a prepaid card in Brazil. The launch is part of Binance’s “efforts to broaden the connection between traditional finance and crypto.” According to a statement given to Reuters, the product is currently in beta testing and the crypto exchange expects it to be launched in the region within a few weeks.

Bradesco, Brazil's second-largest private bank, launched its first tokenized bank credit note on Friday.

Fabio Araujo, director of the Central Bank of Brazil and leader of the Digital Brazilian Real project (Brazil’s CBDC version), said that the new payment system will have its own blockchain, whose design is inspired by the Ethereum network.

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) on Friday approved the ability for investment funds to include crypto assets among their holdings.

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday approved a crypto regulation bill recently passed by that country’s Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.