Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) has sent a questionnaire to the 10 Cryptocurrency exchanges in the country and an OTC trading desk. Portal do Bitcoin, a local news outlet has said the exchanges have up to October 19 to fill the questionnaire or face a fine of up to $25,000. The Cryptocurrency exchanges and the banks have requested the agency to keep the answers secret as they contain sensitive information.
CADE To Probe The Treatment Of Exchanges By The Banks
Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) has given the Cryptocurrency exchanges in the country a questionnaire that they are supposed to fill before October 19. Portal do Bitcoin, a local media house reported that all the 10 exchanges in the country and an OTC trading desk received the questionnaires on October 1.
More details have revealed that among the questions the country’s antitrust watchdog have included is the experience of the exchanges on the hands of banks. At the beginning of this year, there were rumors that some local financial institutions were restricting the activities of the Cryptocurrency exchanges thereby harming them. The watchdog is hopeful that the information gathered through these questionnaires will help in clearing the matter. It will also be in a position to establish whether the banks abused their position.
Contents Of The Questionnaire
Portal do Bitcoin has published the questionnaire showing that the exchanges will be required to present their businesses by giving a brief of what they do. The questionnaire then proceeds to ask the exchanges whether their bank accounts have been closed previously or if they have been denied banking services. If the response yes, they will indicate the losses suffered.
In an attempt to gather more information, the exchanges will be required to state their attitude towards illegal activities. The will then be needed to explain the measures they have taken to prevent the use of virtual currencies in organized crime, terrorism financing, and money laundering. They will also mention whether they have refused to serve any customer(s) before.
Previously, some banks have refused to serve Cryptocurrency exchanges for failure to provide their National Classification of Economic Activity (CNAE). CADE has requested the exchanges to mention the main economic activity they provided when opening bank accounts. Lastly, the exchanges will be required to state whether they monitor their customers’ transactions and whether they allow the use of non-traceable methods.
Tough Fines For Those Who Fail To Respond
CADE has requested all the recipients of the questionnaire to respond by October 19. Any company that refuses to respond, delays to respond for an unjustifiable reason, or omits important information will be fined up to $25,000. The watchdog is determined to get the responses and has requested all the exchanges to give the names and contacts of those who will be responding. This will make it easy for the agency to follow up.
Given the sensitivity of the information that will be contained in these questionnaires, the banks, and the exchanges have approached the watchdog and requested it to keep the responses secret. They have asked the agency to add the questionnaires to the “restricted access” category. Nevertheless, the regulator has not given any response on how it will handle the responses.
