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You'll need a Bitcoin wallet before you buy since some exchanges require one.
Don't have a wallet? Read our guide on the best Bitcoin & cryptocurrency wallets.
This ad promotes virtual cryptocurrency investing within the EU (by eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd.) & USA (by eToro USA LLC); which is highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal.
Paybis Buy Now Paybis is a popular & cryptocurrency exchange. They serve 180 countries and 48 US states and are registered with FinCEN, making them a more trusted, regulated exchange. Paybis offers incredibly high limits and super fast payouts, not to mention 5 minute ID verification and nearly perfect review scores on Trustpilot.
Airtm Airtm offers a peer community. You can buy and sell dollars or crypto in exchange for other forms of value. The platform provides trust and transparency by authenticating users and establishing a higher degree of identity validation to the peers who facilitate the transactions. Airtm provides an escrow system, so that value exchanges are fair and are completed as agreed.
Bitex Bitex.la is a Bitcoin exchange and broker which services many South American countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. You can fund your exchange account with cash or AstroPay.
Ripio Buy Now Ripio is a Bitcoin platform based in Argentina. Ripio accepts bank transfers from Argentina or Brazil. Ripio also accepts cash payments from over 8,000 convenience stores across Argentina, via Easy Payment or Rapipago. It's quick, secure, and easy to use.
SatoshiTango Buy Now SatoshiTango is a South American Bitcoin exchange. Users in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua can use SatoshiTango to buy bitcoin.
Payment methods include bank transfer, bank wire, cash deposit in Buenos Aires or through a coupons from PagoFacil, RapiPago, BaproPagos, CobroExpress or ProvinciaPagos.
Mercado Bitcoin Buy Now Mercado Bitcoin is the largest Bitcoin exchange in Brazil and South America. Without verifying, you can buy bitcoin using cash deposits. After verification, you can also fund your account with online bank transfers, which incur no deposit fee. Mercado Bitcoin offers some of the best liquidity in Brazil, meaning you should get the fair market price when buying bitcoins.
FOXBIT Buy Now FOXBIT is a Bitcoin exchange based in Brazil. You can buy bitcoin online with bank transfers and no deposit fees. FOXBIT offers some of the best liquidity in Brazil, meaning you should get the fair market price when buying bitcoins.
FlowBTC Buy Now FlowBTC is a Bitcoin exchange based in Brazil. You can fund your account online via bank transfer.
Bitcoin To You Bitcoin To You was the first Bitcoin broker to be established in Brazil, in 2013. You can buy bitcoins online from them in less than 10 minutes. You simply create an account and make a deposit via online bank transfer.
BitCambio Buy Now BitCambio is another Bitcoin exchange based in Brazil. You can make a deposit online via bank transfer. Fees vary depending on your trading volume.
Bitcoin ATMs Buy Now You can use our Bitcoin ATM map to buy bitcoins with cash. Bitcoin ATMs can be a quick and easy way to buy bitcoins and they're also private. That convenience and privacy, however, comes with a price; most ATMs have fees of 5-10%.
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Bitcoin is legal in Brazil, and there are no restrictions on individuals buying, selling, or using cryptocurrencies for non-criminal purposes.
Brazil's Central Bank has twice outlined its regulatory position on Bitcoin and other digital assets. The Bank warned of the speculative nature of cryptocurrency trading (particularly pertinent in November 2017 when the second statement was released) and the risks inherent to self-custody of funds.
4. Companies that negotiate or store so-called virtual currencies on behalf of users, natural or legal persons, are not regulated, authorized or supervised by the Central Bank of Brazil. In the legal and regulatory framework related to the national financial system, there is no specific provision on virtual currencies. The Central Bank of Brazil, in particular, does not regulate or supervise transactions with virtual currencies.
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7. Although virtual currencies have been the subject of international debate and manifestations by monetary authorities and other public authorities, the need to regulate these assets has not been identified to date. In Brazil, for the time being, there are no relevant risks for the National Financial System.
8. Finally, the Central Bank of Brazil affirms its commitment to support financial innovations, including those based on new technologies that make the financial system more secure and efficient.
The Brazilian authorities are warning users that crypto is an "at your own risk" type of game. If you're willing to accept the risks in exchange for the independence and opportunities that Bitcoin offers, read on to find out more about Bitcoin in Brazil.
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This ad promotes virtual cryptocurrency investing within the EU (by eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd.) & USA (by eToro USA LLC); which is highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal.
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There are three main types of Bitcoin wallet and all of them are supported in Brazil:
The Ledger Nano X is the newest crypto hardware wallet, and is very easy to use. It connects to iOS, Android & desktop computers.
ZenGo is an easy-to-use iOS and Android Bitcoin & crypto wallet. Start within 20 seconds.
Electrum is a Bitcoin-only wallet that has been around since 2011. It's easy to use, but has advanced features.
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As with any new and easily misunderstood technology - especially one that has shown tremendous investment returns over the last decade - there have been a range of scams and hacks in Brazil relating to Bitcoin.
One recent scam involved fraudsters contacting their marks via social media, who they then attempted to convince to invest in Bitcoin. The scam's 5,000 victims were promised daily returns of three to four percent - too good to be true. When the "investors" tried to withdraw their funds, the scammers simply disappeared.
Police allege that they stole as much as BRL$1.5 billion (US$ 350 million). Perhaps that's why they took 50 SWAT officers, 20 vehicles, and a helicopter with them when they arrested the alleged scammers in December 2019.
In light of the rampant cryptocurrency scams in Brazil, the government opened a formal inquest into the problem in October 2018.
A contributing factor was the August 2018 hack of Atlas Quantum, at the time Brazil's largest crypto exchange. The hack exposed the personal information of more than 264,000 customers, including names, phone numbers, mail addresses, and account balances.
User funds, however, were not touched. Atlas Quantum released a statement on Facebook confirming the hack and promising to initiate a full investigation.
Still, the hack did little to improve consumer confidence in an industry that has faced its fair share of obstacles in Brazil.
These exchange hacks and crypto scams underscore the importance of doing your due diligence on exchanges and investment opportunities, as well as holding your own private keys. Centralized exchanges all have centralized points of failure, an ironic feature considering that Bitcoin is built on a model of trustless decentralization. Allowing others to purchase cryptocurrency for you, especially cold-callers you have never met, is a surefire way to lose your money.
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Coinbase - one of the world's largest exchanges and up there with the best for beginners - is available in Brazil.
However, Brazilian users can only convert between cryptocurrencies on Coinbase. It is not currently possible to buy or sell using fiat currency.
See above for a list of platforms that function as fiat on/off-ramps as well as cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitcoin ATMs are a convenient way to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for cold hard cash. This method usually incurs relatively high (~5-10%) fees, but that's the price to be paid for the convenience of getting cash for your Bitcoin in less than half an hour.
Many ATM operators publish live prices for their machines, so you can see the exact rate you'll get before even visiting the ATM.
Some will require you to complete identity verification, though for many this is as simple as confirming a phone number.
Sometimes, you'll need to do a little more digging to find a Bitcoin ATM close to you.
Coinwise, a Brazillian company, has three Bitcoin ATMs open to the public in Brazil:
Coinwise is expanding and plans to have more ATMs available soon.
Airbitz has a list of Bitcoin ATMs and businesses that accept BTC and other cryptocurrencies as payment. It lists a further two Bitcoin ATMs in Brazil, one at the co-working space Lab89 in São Paulo, and another at Shopping Nações Unidas at the World Trade Center, also in São Paulo.
The current price of Bitcoin in Brazil is R$60,040, however this amount changes every minute, so always check the value on your local exchange.
The best way to check the price of Bitcoin in Brazil is to go the your exchange of choice and check the price in your local currency that Bitcoin last sold for. The price of an asset is just this - the value of the compensation for which it was most recently exchanged. This price differs across markets, i.e. one exchange may have a slightly lower or higher price depending on varying barriers to entry and liquidity. So, the price that most matters is the one you can actually trade at. This is most likely to be the price on the exchange you use the most.
See above for a list of the best Bitcoin exchanges in Brazil.
There are also a range of websites such as CoinMarketCap and Nomics that list the prices of hundreds of digital assets, drawn from a range of exchanges and averaged out.
Bitcoin - as an unconfiscatable digital asset that is accessible wherever there is internet - is ideal for remittances. In fact, Bitcoin can even be accessed without an internet connection, with satellites providing access to the network independent of local internet infrastructure.
The process of sending Bitcoin from one address to another is identical regardless of where the sender and recipient are located. There are no extra steps required that make sending Bitcoin internationally any different to sending it next door.
Likewise, the blockchain fee you will need to pay in order to have your transaction sent is the same, whether you're sending to the other side of the world or just another of your own wallets.
Check out our guide on how to send a Bitcoin transaction.
You can also watch this video to get an idea of what the process is like.
Bitcoin is popular in Brazil and the country is the largest market for cryptocurrency in South America. In April 2019, Brazil set the record for most Bitcoin traded in a single day in Latin America, with over 100,000 BTC changing hands.
Due to Bitcoin's pseudonymous nature, it's difficult to tell exactly who is purchasing most of the Bitcoin in Brazil, but it's clear that there is strong demand for the cryptocurrency. This may be due to the recent economic slump Brazil has been experiencing, which drives demand for harder currencies than the national fiat.
Jordan Tuwiner is the founder of BuyBitcoinWorldwide.com. His work has been featured in The Guardian, International Business Times, Forbes, VentureBeat, CoinDesk and many other top Bitcoin media outlets. His articles are read by millions of people each year looking for the best way to buy Bitcoin and crypto in their country.
He has also written extensively about the history, technology, and business of the crypto world. Jordan is also the creator of some of the internet's most famous Bitcoin pages, including The Quotable Satoshi and Bitcoin Obituaries.
To learn more about Jordan, see his full bio.
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