Brazil’s House of Representatives will hold a hearing on Aug. 20 to discuss a bill proposing the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve in the country.
According to the House website, at least six institutions are slated to participate, including the Central Bank of Brazil, the Ministry of Finance, a crypto advocacy association and representatives from fintech companies and the banking sector.
The bill, introduced in November 2024, seeks to allow up to 5% of the country's treasury funds to be used to buy Bitcoin, which translates to a potential investment of roughly $15 billion, assuming the central bank’s total reserves of about $300 billion as of February.
According to the bill, the cryptocurrency reserve would “protect international reserves against exchange rate fluctuations and geopolitical risks” and “promote the use of blockchain technologies in the public and private sectors.”
If approved by lawmakers in the House, the legislation will head to the Senate, the upper chamber in the Congress, before being signed into law or vetoed by Brazil President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula' da Silva.
The idea of a Bitcoin reserve in the country has been met with a mixed response.
“Debating the creation of a sovereign Bitcoin reserve is in the public interest and vital to Brazil's prosperity,” Pedro Giocondo Guerra, chief of staff to Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, said in March, according to a translated statement cited by Poder360. “After all, Bitcoin is the digital gold, the gold of the internet.”
However, Brazil’s central bank director of monetary policy, Nilton David, reportedly said it would be inappropriate to include crypto assets in the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
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National Bitcoin reserves in other countries
After US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March to create a national strategic Bitcoin reserve, other countries followed suit or were speculated to be developing their own.
In June, a government news agency revealed that Kazakhstan plans to start a strategic Bitcoin reserve, likely from seized coins. Other countries with speculation of a Bitcoin reserve include India and Sweden.
In descending order, the six countries that hold the most Bitcoin are the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Bhutan and El Salvador.
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