Brazilian lawmakers have summoned the heads of major crypto exchanges to parliament, as well as representatives of “pyramids” and other experts in the crypto field. The list includes 38 individuals who will face questioning from MPs, including Guilherme Haddad Nazar, the head of Binance in Brazil.
The exchanges invited to attend include Bitso, KuCoin, OKX, Coinbase, Liqi Digital Assets, and Bitget, with Bitso being one of Latin America’s biggest trading platforms. Also invited are Foxbit, which is working with the nation’s Central Bank on its digital real project, and crypto “pyramids” GAS Consultoria, Atlas Quantum, and Indeal. The latter is thought to have amassed some $193 million from investors before declaring bankruptcy in February this year.
Other notable crypto advocates and experts have been invited too, such as Fernando Ulrich, author of “Bitcoin: The Currency of the Digital Era”, and Thiago Nigro, also known as Primo Rico, who runs Rico Investimentos, an active firm in the domestic Bitcoin market.
Lawmakers want to develop a better understanding of crypto and how crypto-themed pyramids work, and hope that the exchanges and experts will help them in this regard. The spotlight may fall on the representatives of the biggest suspected crypto “pyramids and frauds in Brazil”.
The CPI has also heard calls from lawmakers who demand that big tech firms and mainstream national media outlets attend. Some MPs feel media outlets are doing too little to combat a rise in crypto scams, and want media chiefs to act, as well as for social media platforms to reduce the ease with which scammers advertise their projects. Thus far, attempts to summon IT and media leaders have been postponed.
