Brazil's banks under suspicion: monopoly behavior against crypto exchanges
Banks show monopolistic behavior:
On 18 September, the Brazilian market regulator confirmed that it had taken action against six of the country's largest banks. The reason for this is the suspicious behavior in closing accounts of crypto exchanges.
As Reuters reported, the agency will investigate "monopolistic practices that restrict the actions of exchanges." The Authority confirmed that "the most important banks have imposed access restrictions or even banned access to the financial system for crypto exchanges".
The investigated banks are Santander Brasil SA, Banco Bradesco SA, Banco do Brasil SA, Itau Unibanco Holding SA, Banco Inter and Sicredi.
Accounts closed arbitrarily
The Brazilian Cryptocurrency Association and Blockchain filed an official complaint with the agency. In it, the association wrote that "banks abuse their power as financial actors by closing accounts of Bitcoin-trading exchanges."
The banks in turn claimed that they had to close their accounts. The reason for this is that customer information that is legally required to prevent money laundering would be missing.
Another source confirmed that "many banks would close the accounts of crypto exchanges without justification".
Legal situation of Bitcoin unclear:
The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission initially banned the purchase of digital coins because "cryptocurrencies can not be classified as financial assets". Only a little later, the authorities turned around. Indirect possession of cryptocurrencies is allowed by the purchase of crypto-mutual funds.
Although the legal status of Bitcoin in Brazil has not been finally clarified, the country is of particular importance for the trading of the currency in Latin America. Around 1.4 million people invested in the coin. In addition, more than $ 2.4 billion was traded in Bitcoin last year.