In Brazil, digital mining will be considered by the state as a productive process, and cryptocurrencies will be seen as assets called well produced

On Tuesday, August 26th, the Central Bank of Brazil (BANCEN) issued a report about the statistics of the external sector that corresponds to the most current ones. In the statement released to the press, cryptocurrencies are recognized as “well produced” assets. This means that, for the Central Bank of Brazil, cryptocurrencies have a value that must be considered; therefore, they are now classified as assets that can well be calculated in the traditional balance of payments.

According to the statistics report, it is clarified that the issuing entity, when using the methodology to calculate the balance of payments, will take into account the payments and transactions made with cryptocurrencies. In the same way, mining is established as a “productive process”, which must be recognized in the calculations and economic statistics.

It is known that the balance of payments is a system of calculation or accounting record that specifies all commercial transactions conducted by the country with other economies. These calculations must include all imports and exports of goods that are made in the region, as well as financial transfers, among other things.

Despite this, the report indicates that due to the nature of the digital asset there is no customs registry that can process cryptocurrencies. “Brazil has been a net importer of crypto assets, which has contributed to reducing the trade surplus (positive balance) in the goods account of the balance of the country’s payments”. In this sense, the inclusion of all cryptocurrency sales data is focused on producing a greater balance in the balance of payment of the South American country.

The publication of the report generated some media to comment that this action responds to an indirect recognition of cryptocurrencies in that country. Whilst citizens and other stronger media highlights that if the report recognizes that the country is a “Cryptocurrency Importer,” and does not properly recognize the crypto asset as a legal method of payment, the authorities are not having a real and total understanding of what cryptocurrencies are.

The Balance of Payments Statistics Committee of Brazil made the recommendation to include cryptocurrencies in the nation’s balance of payments, as assured by BANCEN authorities, after establishing the measure. The committee belongs to the advisers of the Statistics Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), so it should be governed by the recent document called “Treatment of Cryptographic Assets in Macroeconomic Statistics”, published by the same Department of Statistics in 2018.

Before the publication of this report, Thiago Lucena, who is CEO of Uzzo, a startup with operations in Brazil, recently commented that this will represent a negative impact on the processes with cryptocurrencies that are conducted in the country since, in his opinion, it will bureaucratize the industry and will allow the collection of taxes, enhancing all processes in the area.

By María Rodríguez

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