Goodbye, Cheap USDT: Brazil Plans to Introduce a 3.5% Tax on Stablecoins

Ever since Brazil rolled out the mandatory SPSAV license, crypto gateways like NOWPayments, Akurateco, Cryptomus, and others have switched to a White Label model with their clients. This lets local businesses accept crypto payments under their own brand—the licensing burden falls on them. The actual transaction processing is still handled by the gateways, and the lion's share of those transactions are stablecoins.

Brazilian authorities decided to cash in on this setup by proposing to extend the Financial Operations Tax to stablecoin transactions. This would let them classify all dollar‑token volume as international payments and slap a tax of up to 3.5% on it.

Major players in Brazil's crypto and fintech scene have pushed back hard against the plan. They argue it's unconstitutional—the IOF is meant for national and foreign currency, they say. In Brazil, crypto is legally considered property, not currency.

The push to tax stablecoins is also a way to shield the government's Pix system. Pix is free for users, but it doesn't offer the same anonymity and freedom that stablecoins do.

Extra taxes would raise serious questions about whether global crypto leaders with local integrations—like Binance Pay, BitPay, and Coinbase Commerce—can stay viable. They'd lose their edge once local businesses figure out how to dodge the IOF and go grey.