Cade Again Postpones Dispute Between Banks and Cryptocurrency Exchanges

The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) has again postponed the dispute between banks and cryptocurrency brokers operating in Brazil. The administrative inquiry is investigating possible unfair competition from banks against stock exchanges.

In recent years, many companies that work with cryptocurrencies have been censored by banks. These financial institutions closed broker bank accounts, in many cases citing commercial disinterest.

Since such accounts are necessary for brokers to serve their clients, a market-affiliated association has joined Cade and requested an investigation into the matter. Intervening and going, the process continues to examine the situation.

Cade Again Postpones Dispute Between Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Banks

In a document released last Wednesday (27), Alexandre Barreto de Souza, CADE’s General Superintendent, who took office recently, said. Before that, until June 2021, Alexandre was president of Cade.

One of his first decisions in the new position was the signing of the SG Dispatch n.º 507/2022, which postpones the dispute between cryptocurrency brokers and Brazilian banks.

This administrative investigation was filed by the Brazilian Association of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain against Banco do Brasil, Banco Bradesco, Banco Itaú Unibanco, Banco Santander, Banco Inter and Banco Cooperativo Sicredi.

To justify this action, the inspector used as a basis a recent technical note issued by Cade, which already postponed the dispute between cryptocurrency institutions and the traditional financial market.

This process was even suspended, but after an appeal from the association, it was reopened and is under evaluation.

“On the basis of §1 of art. 50, of Law No. 9.784, of 1999, I integrate the reasons of Technical Note No. 2/2022/CGAA2/SGA1/SG/CADE (SEI 1005603) into this decision, including as justification. In view of the circumstances of the specific case mentioned in the above-mentioned Technical Note, I decide to cancel this Administrative Inquiry pursuant to art. 66, §9 of Law 12.529 of 2011.”

What is Cade’s mission?

CADE is a federal agency affiliated with the Department of Justice and Public Security. Thus, its mission is to ensure free competition in Brazil, and its function is to investigate and ultimately decide on competition issues.

In addition, CADE should strive to promote and disseminate the culture of free competition in Brazil.

In the case of the dispute between brokers and banks, the article tries to understand whether there is an issue where financial institutions close bank accounts of digital currency companies because they have an interest in the industry.

It is worth noting that some banks are already considering selling cryptocurrencies, such as Itaú for example. In fact, this is one of those mentioned in the survey that doesn’t have a set date to decide on it.