Our partner Tiago Severo Gomes was featured in a Valor Econômico article on BCB Normative Instruction No. 701, of 01/22/2026, which takes effect on February 2 and details the form of notice and the minimum requirements for the technical certification by an independent qualified firm that must accompany the notice of intent to provide virtual asset services in the intermediation and custody modalities under BCB Resolution No. 520/2025.
From a regulatory standpoint, IN BCB 701/2026 shifts the focus of the discussion to auditable technical evidence: the certification must be a conclusive opinion attesting to the institution's adequacy, item by item, covering at least: (i) effective segregation between the institution's own virtual assets and those of clients and (ii) proof of reserves, demonstrating that the provider actually holds the assets it claims to hold in custody on behalf of clients.
The certification also covers: relevant services/critical third parties (with emphasis on processing, data storage and cloud computing), technical capacity of service providers (including abroad), recovery plans/control of assets and resources in incidents, governance and policies, AML/CFT/CPF, security and resilience of the IT environment, custody and protection requirements for control instruments, continuous monitoring, and controls to mitigate conflicts of interest and abusive market practices.
The rule is also explicit about the procedure: the notice requires (i) registration/update in Unicad and (ii) submission of the certification via APS-Siscom; without completing all procedures, the notice is "without effect" and the institution remains barred from providing the services.
For those preparing an authorization process to provide virtual asset services, IN BCB No. 701/2026 substantially changes the procedure and timeline, since the application ceases to be predominantly legal and documentary and comes to depend on an operational architecture that is implemented in advance and certified by an independent third party through a conclusive opinion. In practice, this brings forward investments in internal controls, contracts and governance of critical providers (including technology and cloud), audit trails and technical documentation; in other words, presenting a business plan and intentions is not enough — objective evidence of a minimum structure prior to filing will be required.
Valor Econômico article: https://lnkd.in/dUNA8URF
