Crypto Law Profile

Brazil IN RFB 1,888/2019 Crypto Asset Reporting Regime

Brazil’s former Receita Federal crypto-asset reporting regime required domestic exchanges and certain residents to report crypto transactions. Effective Aug. 1, 2019; repealed from July 1, 2026.

Brazil Repealed Tax guidance Aug 1, 2019

At a glance

Status Repealed by IN RFB 2,291/2025; repeal effect from July 1, 2026.
Effective date Produced effects from Aug. 1, 2019; first report covered August 2019.
Covered parties Domestic exchanges and certain Brazilian residents reported covered crypto operations.
Threshold Brazilian residents reported foreign or off-exchange activity above R$30,000/month.

Overview

Brazil IN RFB 1,888/2019 was the Receita Federal do Brasil crypto-asset reporting regime that required specified exchanges, individuals, and entities to provide information on operations involving crypto assets. The instruction was dated May 3, 2019, published in Brazil’s Official Gazette on May 7, 2019, and produced effects from Aug. 1, 2019. As of July 8, 2026, the regime should be treated as repealed: IN RFB 2,291/2025 revoked IN RFB 1,888/2019 and moved Brazil to the DeCripto reporting framework from July 1, 2026.

What the Brazil crypto asset reporting regime covered

The instruction created an information-reporting obligation to the Secretaria Especial da Receita Federal do Brasil for operations involving “criptoativos.” It defined a crypto asset as a digital representation of value, denominated in its own unit of account, transferable electronically with cryptography and distributed-ledger technology, and not legal tender. It also defined a crypto-asset exchange broadly to include non-financial legal entities offering intermediation, trading, or custody services, including environments where users could buy and sell crypto assets with one another.

Reporting applied to exchanges domiciled in Brazil for tax purposes. It also applied to Brazilian-resident or Brazil-domiciled individuals and legal entities when operations were carried out through a foreign exchange or outside an exchange, but only when the monthly value of those operations, alone or together, exceeded R$30,000. This structure made the regime both platform-facing and taxpayer-facing, while preserving a threshold for the foreign-exchange and off-exchange reporting category.

Key reporting obligations under IN RFB 1,888/2019

  • Covered operations included purchase and sale, exchange, donation, transfers to or from an exchange, temporary assignment or rental, payment in kind, issuance, and other transfers of crypto assets.
  • Operation-level reporting included the date and type of operation, the parties, the crypto assets used, quantities, Brazilian-real values, and service fees. After IN RFB 1,899/2019, wallet-address details were generally required only if requested during a tax procedure.
  • Monthly information was due by the last business day of the month following the month in which the covered operations occurred.
  • Brazilian exchanges also had to report year-end balances for each user, including fiat balances, crypto-asset balances, and cost information where supplied by the user.

Valuation, records, and reporting mechanics

IN RFB 1,888/2019 required values expressed in foreign currency to be converted first into U.S. dollars and then into Brazilian reais, using the Banco Central do Brasil PTAX selling rate for the date of the operation or balance. It also required information to be transmitted through Receita systems and did not relieve filers from keeping the documents and systems from which reported data was extracted. For editorial purposes, these mechanics are best summarized as information-reporting infrastructure rather than as a standalone tax-rate rule. The regime did not itself create a comprehensive market-conduct or licensing framework for virtual-asset service providers; it operated as a federal tax information-reporting obligation.

Status and repeal

IN RFB 1,888/2019 was amended in 2019 and remained the main Receita crypto reporting regime until its repeal under IN RFB 2,291/2025. The successor instruction created the Declaração de Criptoativos, or DeCripto, and its repeal provision for IN RFB 1,888/2019 produced effects from July 1, 2026. This profile should therefore be presented as a historical, repealed regime and linked editorially to any separate DeCripto profile covering the current reporting framework.

Penalties and enforcement context

The instruction set monetary penalties for late filing, inaccurate or incomplete information, omissions, and failure to respond to Receita requests. It also stated that, without prejudice to applicable reporting penalties, Receita could communicate facts to the Ministério Público Federal where there were indications of crimes under Brazil’s anti-money-laundering law. The profile is informational only and does not provide legal, tax, compliance, investment, or trading advice.

Key provisions

Definitions and scope

Defined criptoativo and exchange of criptoativos, including non-financial entities providing intermediation, trading or custody services.

Scope Aug 1, 2019 Source

Covered reporting persons

Applied to Brazil-tax-resident exchanges and Brazilian residents using foreign exchanges or no exchange when monthly operations exceeded R$30,000.

Covered persons Aug 1, 2019 Source

Reportable operations

Covered purchases, sales, swaps, donations, transfers to or from exchanges, temporary assignment, payment in kind, issuance and similar transfers.

Operations Aug 1, 2019 Source

Monthly and annual information

Required monthly reporting by the last business day of the next month; domestic exchanges also reported each user’s year-end balances.

Deadlines Aug 1, 2019 Source

Penalties and corrections

Set penalties for late, inaccurate, incomplete or omitted reporting; pre-audit corrections could avoid penalties for errors or omissions.

Penalties Aug 1, 2019 Source

Repeal and successor regime

IN RFB 2,291/2025 revoked IN RFB 1,888/2019 and moved Brazil to DeCripto reporting from July 1, 2026.

Repeal Jul 1, 2026 Source

Timeline

  1. Instruction signed

    Receita Federal issued IN RFB 1,888/2019 to create crypto-asset transaction reporting.

    Enacted Source
  2. Published in Official Gazette

    The instruction was published in the Diário Oficial da União, Section 1, page 14.

    Enacted Source
  3. Amended by IN RFB 1,899/2019

    The amendment adjusted digital-signature and wallet-address reporting mechanics.

    Enacted Source
  4. Regime produced effects

    IN RFB 1,888/2019 produced legal effects from August 1, 2019.

    In force Source
  5. Layout update published

    ADE Copes nº 1/2023 updated the layout and manual for crypto-asset reporting.

    Enacted Source
  6. Repeal took effect

    IN RFB 2,291/2025 repeal of IN RFB 1,888/2019 produced effects from July 1, 2026.

    Repealed Source

Who it affects

Actors

Receita Federal do Brasil

Asset classes

Crypto assets

Official sources

Editorial note

Historical profile. IN RFB 1,888/2019 should be treated as repealed from July 1, 2026 after IN RFB 2,291/2025 moved Brazil to the DeCripto reporting framework. This page is informational only and is not legal or tax advice.