The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) of Brazil postponed the decision on the blocking of accounts of the Bitcoin Market cryptocurrency exchange at Banco Itaú. The deferral is due to the request for hearings by Judge Nancy Andrighi, one of the five members of the Third Chamber of the highest court of that country, the body that currently knows about this case.
The hearing, which took place on August 7, had generated a great expectation in the Brazilian crypto community, since a ruling on this case will serve as a precedent for other processes involving cryptoactive markets, which take place in the courts of justice of the country and in the STJ itself.
Local media reported that the magistrate rapporteur (rapporteur) at the trial, Marco Aurelio Bellizze, ruled against the cryptocurrency exchange house, alleging that there is consolidated jurisprudence of the STJ that allows the closing of the current account contract provided that has been notified. Nevertheless, the magistrate alluded to cases that involved natural persons.
In his opinion, it is not an abusive practice, since "It is legitimate the refusal of the financial institution to maintain a current account contract with a cryptocurrency intermediation institution, which does not have any regulation from the Central Bank of Brazil" said Bellizze.
After the presentation of Bellizze, Judge Nancy Andrighi, asked for a hearing to have a better knowledge about the case before casting her vote, which resulted in the postponement of the trial. The magistrate will have up to 60 days to present her position.
The other three judges are also pending, Moura Ribeiro, Paulo de Tarso Sanseverino and Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva.
"DO NOT WORK WITH THE TRUTH"
During the hearing, detailed by Portal do Bitcoin, where the parties presented their arguments orally, the legal representative of the cryptocurrency exchange house, José Roberto de Castro Neves, stated that the action to cancel their accounts goes against the free competition, and that a decision favorable to the bank can convert transactions with cryptoactives into a practice outside the laws in Brazil.
Castro Neves affirmed that the negotiation with cryptocurrencies "is not going to end, but to be marginalized. Then we will have a problem. "
For his part, Anselmo González, lawyer of the financial institution, stressed that the institution acted within the banking regulations, when notifying in advance to Bitcoin Market the closing of their accounts. "The bank can not be forced to maintain a link if, by internal inquiry, it concludes that it has no confidence in the client," Gonzalez said.
The lawyer also added that Itaú has a guarantee of secrecy about the reasons they had to close the account. On the other hand, he argued that banks are obliged to know the destination and origin of any operation that involves them, since otherwise they are exposed to administrative sanctions or to their managers being seized.
The case of Mercado Bitcoin and Itaú started in 2015 and has already had an adverse decision in the Justice Court of Sao Paulo. The date on which there will be a final ruling by the Superior Court of Justice is still unknown.
SYSTEMATIC PATTERN
The pattern of closing bank accounts of cryptocurrency exchange platforms has become recurrent in Latin America. In countries such as Chile and Colombia, these startups have also had to resort to a legal system to recover their operations.
In the case of Chile, the courts have approved precautionary measures in favor of the cryptocurrency exchange houses, so that they can continue operating while the merits of the matter are decided. However, in Colombia, the Buda.com exchange was forced to suspend operations after the closure of all of its bank accounts.