PSAV in Brazil: the Central Bank's virtual asset license explained

PSAV (Prestadora de Serviços de Ativos Virtuais) is Brazil's regulatory regime for companies that provide virtual asset services: exchanging, transferring, custodying, or intermediating crypto and stablecoins for Brazilian customers. The Banco Central do Brasil created the authorization framework in Resolutions 519, 520, and 521, published November 10, 2025 and effective February 2, 2026, under the legal foundation of Law 14.478/2022. Since that date, providing these services in Brazil without authorization or a transitional-regime position is illegal.

Brazil is not a side market for this regime. It is one of the largest stablecoin markets in the world, and Pix, the Central Bank's instant payment system used by over 150 million people, is where most stablecoin conversions land. The PSAV rules are the Central Bank taking direct supervision of the companies connecting those two worlds.

What is a PSAV?

A PSAV is a company authorized by the Banco Central do Brasil to provide virtual asset services. The resolutions define the authorized corporate form as an SPSAV, a Sociedade Prestadora de Serviços de Ativos Virtuais: a Brazilian legal entity whose corporate purpose is virtual asset services and which meets the Central Bank's requirements for capital, governance, and compliance. In practice the terms PSAV and SPSAV describe the same regime from two angles: the activity and the entity that performs it.

The covered services follow the FATF definition of a virtual asset service provider (VASP): exchange between virtual assets and fiat currency, exchange between virtual assets, transfer of virtual assets, custody or administration of virtual assets, and participation in financial services related to an issuer's offer or sale of a virtual asset. A stablecoin off-ramp that converts USDC into reais over Pix sits squarely inside the first category. How those conversions work route by route is covered in USDC to BRL in 2026.

Which rules make up the regime?

Three resolutions, one law, as of 2026:

• Law 14.478/2022 created the legal framework for virtual asset services in Brazil and assigned supervision to the Banco Central do Brasil.
• Resolution 519/2025 defines the regulated activities and classifies virtual asset services within the national financial system.
• Resolution 520/2025 is the authorization rulebook: entity form, minimum capital, governance, fit-and-proper requirements for controllers and officers, and the application process. Its Article 88 created the transitional regime for companies already operating.
• Resolution 521/2025 sets the ongoing conduct rules: AML/CFT obligations, customer asset segregation, reporting, and operational requirements.

Together they moved Brazil from a market where crypto companies operated under general law to one where the Central Bank licenses and supervises them the way it supervises payment institutions. The broader global picture, including MiCA and the GENIUS Act, is in the stablecoin regulation tracker.

Who needs the authorization?

Any company serving Brazilian residents with virtual asset services, whether from inside Brazil or offshore. The regime deliberately closes the offshore loophole: targeting the Brazilian market triggers the requirement regardless of where the servers or the corporate entity sit. Foreign exchanges and stablecoin infrastructure companies serving Brazil face the same choice as local ones: incorporate an SPSAV and apply, or exit the market.

Two groups matter for the transition. Companies that started operating before the regime took effect could invoke Article 88 of Resolution 520: they file for authorization within the transitional window and continue operating legally while the Central Bank processes the application. Companies that were not operating before the cutoff must obtain authorization first and operate second. The Central Bank has shown it will enforce the boundary; it has moved against institutions running virtual asset operations outside the permitted structure.

What does a PSAV have to do in practice?

The obligations look like what Brazil already requires of payment institutions, adapted to virtual assets:

• Corporate substance. A Brazilian entity (the SPSAV) with the required minimum capital, local governance, and named responsible officers who pass fit-and-proper review.
• AML/CFT program. Customer identification (CPF/CNPJ), transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, suspicious activity reporting to COAF, and travel rule data handling on transfers.
• Asset segregation. Customer virtual assets separated from the company's own, with controls the Central Bank can examine.
• Reporting and transparency. Periodic regulatory reporting, incident notification, and cooperation with Central Bank supervision.
• Tax reporting. Alongside the BCB regime, Receita Federal expanded crypto transaction reporting through Normative Instruction 2,291/2025.

For a business using a provider rather than becoming one, the checklist inverts: you do not need your own PSAV authorization to pay contractors in Brazil through an authorized provider. You need your provider to have one, or to be lawfully inside the transitional regime, because that is what makes the reais leg of your payout legal, supervised, and recoverable if something breaks.

How does this affect stablecoin payouts to Brazil?

Concretely, three things changed for cross-border money movement in 2026:

1. Provider due diligence became a compliance requirement, not a preference. If your payout provider's Brazil leg runs through an unauthorized intermediary, your payments inherit that risk. Ask any provider for its SPSAV entity, CNPJ, and regime status; a serious one publishes them.
2. Receiver verification got stricter rails. Pix already rejects transfers where the beneficiary name and CPF/CNPJ do not match the receiving account, and PSAV-regulated providers must run KYC and sanctions screening on receivers before converting. The full picture of what providers verify is in stablecoin payments explained.
3. The market cleaned up. Offshore providers without a Brazilian entity are exiting or restructuring, which concentrates volume in authorized providers and makes the "which provider" question, covered in best stablecoin payment providers in 2026, largely a regulatory question in Brazil.

How does BlindPay operate under the PSAV regime?

BlindPay's Brazilian operating entity is BLIND PAY SOCIEDADE PRESTADORA DE SERVIÇOS DE ATIVOS VIRTUAIS LTDA, a dedicated SPSAV. The company is completing the regulatory adaptation process required by Central Bank Resolution 520/2025 and operates under the transitional regime set forth in Article 88 of that Resolution, which authorizes continued operation while the application is processed. Entity details, CNPJ numbers, and the full registration picture across markets are published on the licenses page, and our compliance page describes the program that runs on top: KYC and KYB, sanctions screening, and travel rule handling on every USDC or USDT to BRL payout.

Methodology and sources

Regulatory facts from primary sources as of August 2026: Law 14.478/2022 (planalto.gov.br), Banco Central do Brasil Resolutions 519, 520, and 521 of November 10, 2025 (bcb.gov.br), the BCB's Pix documentation (bcb.gov.br/en/financialstability/pix_en), and Receita Federal Normative Instruction 2,291/2025. BlindPay entity and status details from the published licenses page.

This article is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Businesses operating in or serving Brazil should consult Brazilian counsel on their specific regulatory position.