Brazil Penal Code Virtual Asset Fraud Amendments

Article 171-A covers conduct tied to organizing, managing, offering, or distributing wallets, as well as intermediating operations involving virtual assets, securities, or any financial assets. The statutory language is framed around fraudulent means and the purpose of obtaining an unlawful advantage to another person’s detriment. The amendment is therefore narrower than general crypto-market misconduct but broader than conduct limited only to cryptocurrencies.

• Covered assets: the amendment expressly references virtual assets, securities, and financial assets.
• Covered conduct: the offense can involve wallet-related activity or intermediation of asset transactions.
• Fraud element: the text requires conduct that induces or keeps a person in error by artifice, ruse, or another fraudulent means.
• Penalty: the Penal Code provision sets imprisonment from four to eight years and a fine.

Law No. 14,478/2022 was enacted on December 21, 2022 and published in the Diário Oficial da União on December 22, 2022. Article 14 set a 180-day period before entry into force. Senate legislative records identify June 20, 2023 as the effective date for the Penal Code additions, including Article 171-A.

As of July 7, 2026, the Câmara dos Deputados record for Law No. 14,478/2022 states that no express repeal is recorded. The profile therefore maps the current law status to In force, consistent with the non-U.S. status vocabulary used for operative laws.

Decree No. 11,563/2023 later assigned the Banco Central do Brasil authority to regulate, authorize, and supervise virtual-asset service providers under the broader law. CVM has also stated that the decree does not change CVM authority over securities, including securities represented digitally as tokens. This distinction matters for editorial framing: Article 171-A is a criminal-law provision, while authorization and supervision of service providers belong to the regulatory framework.

This law profile should be linked to Brazil jurisdiction pages, enforcement coverage, and broader virtual-asset framework profiles. It should avoid implying that every crypto loss or failed investment is an Article 171-A offense; the official text requires fraud, unlawful advantage, and prejudice to another person. Coverage should also distinguish virtual assets from securities and financial assets where the legal source does so in published coverage.