8 August 2026
Executive Summary
Brazil’s central bank has announced new anti-fraud measures allowing certain cryptocurrency transfers to be delayed by up to 24 hours.
The measure is intended to give regulated providers additional time to detect suspicious transactions before funds are moved irreversibly.
Brazil has one of the world’s largest digital-payment markets and has been progressively expanding regulation of virtual-asset service providers.
The central bank already has statutory responsibility for regulating and supervising providers of virtual-asset services, while Brazilian authorities have also strengthened information sharing and anti-fraud procedures across the wider financial system.
UK Impact
The development is relevant to UK businesses because it highlights a fundamental tension within digital payments:
The faster a payment becomes final, the less time there is to stop fraud.
Businesses receiving or making digital-asset payments involving Brazil may experience:
- Delayed settlement.
- Additional transaction screening.
- Requests for supporting documentation.
- Greater scrutiny of wallet ownership.
- Temporary withholding of suspicious transactions.
- Changes to treasury and liquidity assumptions.
Companies should therefore avoid assuming that a cryptocurrency transfer is always equivalent to instant cash availability.
Global Impact
Instant and near-instant payments have created enormous commercial efficiencies, but they have also reduced the time available to detect:
- Impersonation fraud.
- Account takeover.
- Investment scams.
- Payment diversion.
- Money laundering.
- Transfers following cyber compromise.
Traditional banking systems often contain mechanisms allowing suspicious transfers to be delayed, recalled or investigated.
Cryptocurrency transactions can become considerably more difficult to reverse once assets have moved to another wallet.
Brazil’s approach therefore raises an interesting policy question for other regulators: whether intentionally slowing a small number of high-risk transactions can make an otherwise rapid payments system safer.
Our View
Businesses often design payment processes around speed. They should design them around certainty.
Companies using cryptocurrency or other rapid payment mechanisms should:
- Require independent verification of new wallet addresses.
- Never change payment instructions solely on the basis of an email or messaging request.
- Use small verification transactions before large transfers.
- Introduce internal delays for unusual or high-value payments.
- Require dual authorisation.
- Maintain approved wallet lists.
- Verify counterparties independently before releasing funds.
- Document who has authority to approve digital-asset transfers.
- Build regulatory screening delays into cash-flow assumptions.
A payment that takes an additional hour to verify is inconvenient.
A fraudulent payment that settles irreversibly in seconds is considerably more expensive.
Risk Indicator: ELEVATED
Disclaimer
The information contained within these Market Alerts is provided for general market awareness and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, legal, investment, regulatory or insurance advice. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure accuracy at the time of publication using multiple reputable and independently verified sources, geopolitical events, legislation, regulation and market conditions may change rapidly. Readers should obtain appropriate professional advice before acting upon any information contained herein.
Invictus Risk Solutions LLP – Helping organisations stay ahead of emerging risks through informed insight and independent analysis.