• Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, has already reached 1.5 million individual and business crypto investors.
  • Stablecoin Tether (USDT)  is the preferred cryptocurrency among Brazilians, followed by Bitcoin (BTC).
  • The exponential growth of cryptocurrency transactions was recorded by the Brazilian tax body.
 

The number of cryptocurrency investors in Brazil almost doubled during the third quarter of 2022, according to Federal Revenue data published last week. September closed with 1,490,618 taxpayers declaring participating in digital asset transactions, compared to the 794,981 reported in the second quarter, ending June 30th.

According to the tax agency’s revenue survey, as cited by Infomoney.com.br, between August and September there was a 14.03% increase in the number of crypto investors, while the year-on-year tally marked growth 3.5 times larger than in September 2021. The metric means that the number of taxpayers that declared cryptocurrency purchases in the region increased by more than 1 million in 2022.

 

A Multitude of Corporate Investors

In a similar trend, corporate investors have also doubled in Brazil over the last year. During the period, the number of companies with investments in digital currencies grew exponentially. On the other hand, September itself heralded a slight decrease, according to the study.

Brazil closed the third quarter with a higher than 20% increase compared to the previous quarter, as total business investors rose from 11,797 in June, to 14,255 in September.

The study also revealed the most purchased digital asset in Brazil to be the Tether (USDT) stablecoin. USDT purchases reported in the third quarter reached a value of 25.9 billion reais, followed by market leader Bitcoin (BTC), which tallied purchases worth more than BRL 4,500 billion.

The other cryptos rounding out the top five most sought after cryptocurrencies by Brazilians are stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), pegged to the U.S. dollar, at BRL 1.7 billion, Ethereum (ETH) at BRL 1.6 billion, and the indexed local Brazilian Digital Token (BRZ) with 1.5 billion reais.

The data was compiled by the Federal Revenue of Brazil, and was based on taxpayers’ income statements, as well as information provided by crypto exchanges operating in the territory. Since 2019, trading platforms have been required to report all customer transactions by law.

 

On the Flipside

  • Given its rapid growth, a general regulatory framework for the trading of digital assets is expected to be approved under the government of Brazil’s newly elected President, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, by the end of next year,
 

Why You Should Care

In terms of cryptocurrency adoption, Brazil is the leader in Latin America, and seventh worldwide, boasting the largest economy in the region, and the 13th largest globally.