Cryptocurrency: Brazil's future or a thing of the past?

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA (AA) - The head of Brazil's central bank on Monday said cryptocurrency might become the financial system in the future and that Brazil will update its technological foundation of the financial markets, at a time when the country's president is thinking the exact opposite.

According to the FXStreet’s website, Central Bank Governor Roberto Campo, in a letter to the country’s Senate, said he is engaged in cryptocurrency and blockchain studies, adding that the digitization of money "might become the future" of financial markets worldwide.

"I have been working intensely on the design of what might become the financial system of the future," said Campo in the letter.

"I participated in studies on blockchain and digital assets, and I hope I will be able to prepare the Central Bank for the future market, where technologies advance exponentially, generating more rapid transformations," he added.

Brazil is one of the biggest cryptocurrency markets in Latin America, with over 100,000 BTC traded daily.

According to financial analysts, people seek to protect their investments in the form of digital assets in the wake of inflation-induced national currency erosions.

In late May, Brazil ordered the establishment of a commission composed of 34 members to consider cryptocurrency regulation in the country.

The positive comments of Campo on cryptocurrency do not weigh in on President Jair Bolsonaro, who in early June said "I do not know what Bitcoin is" during an interview aired on national television.

Bolsonaro even ordered to close a cryptocurrency project, in one of the first actions taken by his administration.

“We are cutting expenses. We were about to use 40 million Reales [$10.3 million] to teach natives to use bitcoin,” he said.

In January, as soon the Bolsonaro government took office, Ministry of Human Rights, Family and Women vetoed the project created by the National Indian Foundation and the Fluminense Federal University.