Report contents
LATAM · Emerging
Brazil
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 67 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +4 |
| Inflation 4.7% · unbanked 14% · remittances 0.2% GDP · capital controls 0.84 · sanctions 0 | CNI 0.215 |
| Need multiplier | ×0.823 |
| Livability score | 0.656 |
Raw 67/84 = 0.798 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.21, from five components: inflation 4.7% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 14% of adults, remittances 0.2% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.84 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×0.82. Livability score 0.656, rank #8 of 79.
Three findings
The only spending stack in the index that runs on a central-bank rail
Brazil posts a perfect 20/20 on spending, one of nine countries to do so, built almost entirely on Pix, the Banco Central do Brasil's instant-payment network. Crypto wallets such as Bitso and Binance Pay let a holder scan any Pix QR code on a utility or rent invoice and settle it from a crypto balance, covering all six bill categories. The same rail makes the fiat-to-crypto on-ramp practically frictionless and earns the maximum peer-to-peer liquidity bonus of 4/4, awarded to only ten countries.
Five crypto ATMs serve 41 million people in the three largest cities
ATM density is Brazil's lowest sub-score, 0.12 machines per 1 million urban residents across São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, yet the gap does not bite: Pix integration routes around physical cash machines entirely. Brazil ranks #5 globally on centralised-exchange liquidity, with USDT against the real making up about 90% of crypto volume per central-bank governor Galípolo.
The new flat tax hits everyday spenders hardest
Provisional Measure 1303, in force from 12 June 2025, replaced the progressive model with a flat 17.5% on all crypto capital gains and abolished the monthly exemption on gains under 35,000 reais. Large holders gained from the drop from 22.5%, but small users lost their tax-free floor, pulling the tax sub-score down to 2.
In one line
"Brazil did not build a separate crypto economy. It plugged crypto into Pix, the instant-payment rail every Brazilian already uses, and turned a stablecoin balance into something you can spend at the corner shop."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 2/4, stable to mixed, the net of a tightening year. The Banco Central do Brasil published Resolutions 519, 520 and 521 on 10 November 2025; they take effect 2 February 2026 with a 270-day grandfather period ending 30 October 2026. Resolution 520 formalises stablecoins as foreign-exchange operations and internalises the Financial Action Task Force Travel Rule (a rule requiring identity data to accompany transfers) at zero threshold, which is likely to move the KYC-burden sub-score back toward 2 once live.