Brazil’s central bank has approved new rules that require virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to temporarily freeze certain crypto transfers before sending funds to foreign platforms or self-custody wallets. The precautionary hold is designed to give firms time to review suspected fraud and suspected illicit behavior.

According to a note published by the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) on Friday, the requirement takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027 and will apply to transfers where the amount received by a customer exceeds $10,000, either as a single transaction or based on the customer’s total activity in a day. In addition to that threshold, VASPs must also place holds on other transfers flagged for enhanced scrutiny under their risk-management systems.

Key takeaways

• Brazil’s BCB will require VASPs to implement precautionary holds of up to 24 hours on certain outbound virtual asset transfers.
• The initial trigger is $10,000 in value received, measured per transaction or aggregated across daily customer activity.
• Holds also cover transfers marked for review under a provider’s existing risk-management policies.
• VASPs must inform customers about holds and maintain records of fraud incidents and remediation steps.
• Japan’s earlier anti-scam measures exist, but they are non-binding—a key difference from Brazil’s approach.

How the 24-hour hold will work

Under the BCB’s framework, VASPs must apply precautionary holds to certain transfers once the underlying conditions are met. The central bank’s statement specifies that the rules cover funds received above $10,000, either in a single transaction or through the accumulation of transactions over the course of a day.

The BCB also requires providers to place holds on additional transfers that need further evaluation under their own risk policies. In other words, the $10,000 threshold is not the only gate: the central bank expects VASPs to treat certain flagged activity more cautiously, even if the threshold is not the only factor.

Providers will be allowed to complete their assessment and release a transfer before the 24-hour window ends, as long as they follow parameters set out by the BCB. That gives firms flexibility in cases where they can quickly clear the transfer after review.

Operational duties for VASPs

The BCB’s note makes clear that the hold mechanism comes with compliance obligations. VASPs must:

• Notify customers when a transfer is subject to a hold.
• Keep records of fraud incidents, attempted fraud, and the corrective actions taken in response.

These requirements matter for users and firms alike because they effectively formalize what providers must do when suspicious cross-border activity is detected. For traders and businesses relying on fast settlement, the policy introduces a potential delay on outbound transfers routed to foreign venues or self-custody addresses when the relevant conditions apply.

Why this is being tightened now

The central bank’s move reflects a broader shift among regulators as they confront scams that leverage the speed and global reach of digital assets. Crypto transfers can settle quickly across borders, which can help legitimate users—but it also creates opportunities for criminals to move funds before counterparties can intervene.

Brazil’s rules are part of a larger international pattern where regulators seek to slow down or add friction at key stages of the transfer process, particularly when money is leaving regulated custody environments for higher-risk destinations such as self-custody wallets.

That context is especially important for investors and service providers: while blockchain activity is transparent, reversing losses is often difficult. Measures like precautionary holds aim to reduce the chance that funds are sent to the wrong addresses in the first place.

Comparisons: Japan’s withdrawal delays and Europe’s scam warnings

Brazil’s action follows similar anti-scam developments elsewhere. In Japan, the Financial Services Agency and the National Police Agency asked crypto exchanges to restrict withdrawals after customers deposit fiat or buy digital assets. As reported earlier by Cointelegraph, Japanese authorities urged exchanges to implement controls such as requiring customers to preregister withdrawal addresses and applying a waiting period before newly added addresses can be used.

Other safeguards discussed in Japan include customer-specific withdrawal limits, stronger monitoring, phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, and checks intended to confirm that a bank remitter’s name matches the crypto account holder.

However, the Japanese measures are not binding. Exchanges can decide how to implement protections based on their own operations and exposure to misuse, which stands in contrast to Brazil’s regulatory timing and threshold-based structure.

In Europe, regulators have also highlighted risks tied to impersonation and fraud. Earlier coverage from Cointelegraph noted warnings about criminals impersonating watchdogs and crypto firms, including instances involving fake websites and the misuse of identity and logos in falsified documents. While those reports focus more on deception surrounding licensed providers, they point to the same underlying issue: scammers adapt quickly to user demand, especially when people are looking for regulated access points.

What to watch next

With Brazil’s hold rules scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2027, VASPs will likely adjust transfer flows, customer communications, and fraud-review processes well before the effective date. Users sending large transfers to foreign services or self-custody wallets should watch how providers interpret the $10,000 trigger and what criteria they use to classify additional transfers as “requiring further scrutiny.”

Brazil’s central bank has ordered virtual asset service providers to hold certain crypto transfers for up to 24 hours from Jan. 1, 2027, adding a new anti-fraud layer to the country’s expanding digital asset rulebook. 

Banco Central do Brasil published Resolution BCB No. 584 on Aug. 7, covering transfers above $10,000 destined for foreign crypto providers or self-custody wallets.

JUST IN: Brazil’s central bank plans 24-hour delay on crypto transfers over $10,000

The anti-fraud rule targets moves to foreign exchanges and self-custody wallets pic.twitter.com/wxGMpKMMmO

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— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) August 9, 2026

The threshold applies either to one transaction or a customer’s combined transactions during the same day. Smaller transfers can also face additional review when a provider’s risk policies identify reasons for closer scrutiny. The central bank said the measure responds to growing use of virtual assets, including stablecoins, to move proceeds from financial fraud quickly, sometimes beyond Brazil or into wallets controlled directly by users.

Brazil crypto transfers will face new checks

Under the central bank’s new anti fraud rules, a covered provider must retain the assets for 24 hours before proceeding with qualifying transfers. However, the measure is precautionary rather than a permanent freeze. A provider can complete its risk review and release the transfer before the full period ends when the conditions established by the regulator are met.

Providers must also tell customers when a transfer is being held. In addition, institutions must maintain records of fraud incidents, attempted fraud and the corrective measures taken. These requirements extend Brazil’s existing payment fraud controls to virtual asset services and give providers more time to review transactions that could otherwise settle rapidly.

The 24-hour hold joins a wider 2027 crypto rulebook

The transfer rule is one part of a broader regulatory expansion. In July, the BCB classified virtual asset service providers under its prudential framework and said they would begin following capital, risk management and disclosure requirements from Jan. 1, 2027. They must also enter the more demanding Segment 4 supervisory category by June 30, 2028, regardless of size.

In related coverage of Brazil’s capital rules, the framework builds on earlier licensing, customer asset segregation and compliance requirements. Separately, as previously reported, the central bank has restricted the use of virtual assets to settle payments inside regulated cross-border electronic foreign exchange channels.

The tighter oversight also follows fresh scrutiny of Brazil’s stablecoin market. The International Monetary Fund’s July Financial System Stability Assessment found that Brazilian crypto activity, particularly involving U.S. dollar pegged stablecoins, has grown rapidly since 2017. It said cross-border crypto flows have been rising faster than traditional capital flows and nominal GDP.

What happens before the January 2027 deadline

Crypto providers now have less than five months to adapt transaction monitoring, customer notification and record keeping systems before Resolution 584 takes effect. Firms will also need processes capable of calculating the $10,000 threshold across multiple transactions made by the same customer during a single day.

Meanwhile, the Jan. 1 deadline will bring several regulatory changes into force at once. Besides the new transfer controls, providers will begin operating under additional prudential requirements covering capital and risk management. The overlap means Brazil is moving beyond basic crypto licensing toward ongoing supervision of how regulated providers manage assets, transfers and financial risks.

For customers, the new rule does not create a general 24-hour delay on every crypto withdrawal. It targets qualifying transfers to overseas providers and self-custody wallets, along with other transactions selected for additional risk assessment. Providers may also release reviewed transactions early, making the eventual waiting time dependent on the circumstances of each transfer.

MARA Holdings secured $600 million of new borrowing on Aug. 4 after pledging 18,750 BTC worth about $1.2 billion as initial collateral, according to its Aug. 6 quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The financing came from Coinbase Credit and Two Prime Lending as MARA directs more capital toward energy assets, Bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence and high performance computing.

The loans were completed after the June quarter, when MARA reported holding 35,577 BTC with a fair value of about $2.1 billion. The pledged 18,750 BTC therefore equals roughly 53% of its reported quarter end Bitcoin holdings. MARA said it “expects to use the proceeds” for general corporate purposes, including financing part of the cash consideration for its planned Long Ridge Energy & Power acquisition.

MARA pledged 18,750 Bitcoin as collateral for $600M in new borrowing. 💸

That equals about 53% of its 35,577 $BTC holdings.

The loans were arranged through Coinbase Credit and Two Prime Lending. pic.twitter.com/iVti2eWxQV

— CryptosRus (@CryptosR_Us) August 9, 2026

MARA gets $600M while refinancing another $150M

Although the two facilities carry $750 million of combined principal, only $600 million represents new borrowing. Coinbase provided a $450 million facility consisting of $300 million in fresh funding and the refinancing of MARA’s existing $150 million Coinbase credit line. Two Prime separately provided a fully drawn $300 million term loan.

Coinbase’s debt carries a floating rate equal to the midpoint of the federal funds target range plus 3.875%. The Federal Reserve maintained its target range at 3.50% to 3.75% on July 29, which puts the current rate on the Coinbase facility at about 7.5%. The loan matures on Aug. 4, 2028 and automatically extends for another year unless either party cancels the extension.

Meanwhile, Two Prime’s $300 million facility carries a fixed annual interest rate of 7.65% and matures on Aug. 3, 2028. At the currently applicable rates, the two loans would generate about $56.7 million in annual interest expense if the full principal remained outstanding for a year. That figure is calculated from the disclosed rates rather than provided as MARA guidance.

Bitcoin collateral adds liquidity and margin risk

The financing shows MARA using its Bitcoin reserves as a source of liquidity alongside outright BTC sales. At June 30, the company already had 4,528 BTC pledged as collateral and another 4,742 BTC loaned to third parties. During the first six months of 2026, MARA also sold about 23,093 BTC for $1.6 billion to fund operations, pursue growth opportunities and manage liquidity.

MARA ended the second quarter with 35,577 BTC, down 29% from 49,951 BTC a year earlier. The company reported quarterly revenue of $174.9 million and a $611.3 million net loss, while declining Bitcoin prices contributed to a $342.7 million fair value loss on its holdings.

However, borrowing against Bitcoin also exposes the company to collateral requirements if BTC prices decline. MARA must maintain agreed collateral ratios under both lending arrangements. If the value of pledged assets falls below specified margin call limits, it must add collateral or take other permitted action to restore those ratios.

Failure to provide enough collateral would constitute an event of default and could allow Coinbase or Two Prime to liquidate pledged Bitcoin. The filing does not disclose the exact margin call thresholds, so public information does not show the Bitcoin price that would trigger additional collateral requirements.

Long Ridge connects the loans to MARA’s AI expansion

MARA has linked part of the new financing to its proposed acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power in Hannibal, Ohio. The company announced the transaction in April at an enterprise value of about $1.5 billion, including assumed debt. Long Ridge includes a power generation business and more than 1,600 acres that MARA plans to combine with its existing infrastructure at the site.

MARA says the property could support several workloads, including Bitcoin mining, power generation, AI infrastructure and high performance computing. Those plans remain forward looking. The company has not announced completed AI tenant contracts for the campus, although it said it had received interest from prospective customers.

The Ohio deal is part of a wider infrastructure expansion. MARA agreed in July to acquire a powered site covering more than 1,200 acres in Matagorda County, Texas. The purchase price can reach $600 million through milestone based payments, while MARA says the site could eventually support up to 2 GW of capacity.

MARA has also been reshaping its balance sheet to finance that strategy. In related coverage, the company sold 20,880 BTC during the first quarter and used part of the proceeds to repurchase convertible debt. By June 30, MARA said total debt had fallen to about $2.4 billion from $3.6 billion at the end of 2025.

What happens next for MARA

The next major milestone is completion of the Long Ridge transaction. MARA’s SEC filing says the acquisition carries an enterprise value of approximately $1.5 billion, including up to roughly $900 million of assumed debt. The company has also obtained a Barclays commitment for a 364 day senior secured bridge facility of up to $785 million as backstop financing for part of that debt if needed.

Closing is not guaranteed. MARA disclosed that it could owe a $75 million termination fee if the acquisition is not completed by Nov. 30, 2026. That deadline can extend to June 30, 2027 if certain regulatory conditions remain unresolved.

For now, the Coinbase and Two Prime loans give MARA $600 million of additional liquidity without requiring another immediate large Bitcoin sale or equity issuance. In return, a large portion of its Bitcoin treasury is now tied to lender collateral requirements. The balance between those financing benefits and the risk of lower BTC prices will remain a key factor as MARA moves toward the Long Ridge closing and continues building its U.S. energy and AI infrastructure portfolio.

The result was sobering. On the day after the 10 mass shootings with the most fatalities, traffic deaths rose by an average of 14.3%, about 20 additional deaths nationwide. Put another way, the extra deaths on the road equaled roughly 75% of the number of people killed in the shootings themselves.

Any surprising result invites an obvious question: Could it be a coincidence? To find out, we repeated the analysis 10,000 times, substituting fake, random dates for the dates of mass shootings. A spike as large as the one we observed arose only once in 10,000 iterations, making it clear that our findings were highly unlikely to have occurred by chance. The increase held across nearly every kind of driver, region, and weather condition, and it persisted even in states far from the shooting, which argues against local explanations like road closures or emergency response. And when we examined active-shooter incidents with no fatalities—events that drew much less public attention—we observed no rise in traffic deaths.

The rules, effective Jan. 1, 2027, cover transactions above $10,000 sent to overseas providers or self-custody wallets, along with other transfers flagged for review.

Brazil’s central bank will require virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to place precautionary holds of up to 24 hours on certain transfers to foreign platforms or self-custody wallets as part of new measures aimed at preventing fraud. 

On Friday, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) said the requirement will apply to funds received above $10,000, either in a single transaction or based on a customer’s total transactions in a day. Providers must also hold other transfers requiring further scrutiny under their risk-management policies. 

The rules take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Providers must notify customers of holds and keep records of fraud incidents, attempted fraud and corrective actions. A VASP may complete its assessment and release a transfer before the 24 hours expire, provided that it follows parameters set out by the central bank. 

The measure adds Brazil to a growing list of jurisdictions tightening crypto safeguards as regulators confront scams that exploit the speed and cross-border reach of digital assets. 

Brazil joins global push against crypto scams

Brazil’s move follows anti-scam measures introduced in other jurisdictions. In Japan, the Financial Services Agency and National Police Agency asked crypto exchanges to restrict withdrawals after customers deposit fiat currency or buy digital assets. 

The authorities also called for platforms to require customers to preregister withdrawal addresses and impose a waiting period before newly added addresses can be used. 

Other proposed safeguards include customer-specific withdrawal limits, stronger monitoring, phishing-resistant multifactor authentication and checks that the name of a bank remitter matches the crypto account holder. 

Unlike Brazil’s regulation, the Japanese measures are not binding. In addition, exchanges can determine implementation based on their operations and exposure to misuse. 

Related: Brazil bars crypto settlement in regulated cross-border payment rails

European regulators have warned of criminals impersonating watchdogs and crypto companies as users search for licensed service providers after the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets licensing deadline. 

France’s financial regulator reported cases involving fake websites, while the European Securities and Markets Authority said scammers had misused its identity and logo in falsified documents. 

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