BCB Resolution 561: what changes for Brazil payments

A finance team that pays a São Paulo supplier or collects from a Brazilian client through a Brazilian eFX provider saw the news about BCB Resolution 561 and asked the right question: does this close the channel I use? The answer is neither yes nor no. It is narrower than it first appears, and that is what this guide covers.

At Soulbit Academy we cover regulation without alarmism and without a promise of a shortcut. Soulbit is a stablecoin payments and treasury rail for Latin American companies, and this article describes a real restriction on Brazil's electronic international payment market, not an opportunity to exploit. This guide summarizes what BCB Resolution 561 changes, from when, and what stays the same.

What BCB Resolution 561 is and what it amends

BCB Resolution 561, dated April 30, 2026, amends BCB Resolution 277 of December 31, 2022, and closes, from October 1, 2026, the use of virtual assets in settlement between a Brazilian eFX provider and its counterparty abroad.

BCB Resolution 277 governs the international payment service that payment institutions and e-money issuers authorized by Brazil's central bank provide, commonly called eFX: the electronic channel a fintech uses to process lower value international remittances and collections without routing through a bank's traditional foreign exchange desk. BCB Resolution 561 touches one specific point of that design, which is how the eFX provider settles, outward, the transaction it made with its Brazilian client.

Based on the reading reproduced by Brazilian legal press, the rule requires that settlement to occur through a traditional foreign exchange transaction or through movement in a non-resident real account held in Brazil, barring the use of virtual assets. This text could not be confirmed directly on the Central Bank of Brazil's normativo page, which returned a blank page without loading the full text at the time of research. What this article describes reflects the converging reading of legal outlets including Migalhas, Exame and Global Finance Magazine, as of September 2026.

What an eFX provider is, and who is actually affected

An eFX provider is the payment institution or e-money issuer authorized by Brazil's central bank to process international payments and transfers on behalf of third parties under BCB Resolution 277, typically for lower value remittances, overseas subscriptions or collections from clients abroad.

BCB Resolution 561 speaks to those institutions, not to the company that hires their service. If your company uses a Brazilian eFX fintech to pay an overseas subscription, or to collect from a client outside Brazil, the fintech is the one that must change its process, not your treasury. What changes for you is indirect: the product the fintech offered may become slower, or more expensive, if it relied on a virtual asset to settle the international leg, because it now needs to use traditional foreign exchange or a non-resident account.

Does my company also have to stop using stablecoins to pay overseas suppliers?

No, if your company buys and transfers the stablecoin directly, without hiring an eFX provider to settle on its behalf. That flow has already been regulated since February 2026 under the broader central bank framework, covered in Brazil's central bank stablecoin regulation: 2026 essentials, with a cap of US$100,000.00 per transaction and a requirement to declare the transaction's purpose. BCB Resolution 561 is an additional layer, specific to the eFX service.

What is banned starting October 1, 2026

From October 1, 2026, using virtual assets, stablecoins included, to settle the offshore leg of an eFX transaction is banned: the Brazilian provider can no longer pay or collect from its overseas counterparty in USDT, USDC or any other virtual asset, even when the transaction with the Brazilian client stays in reais.

Settlement of the eFX offshore leg	Before October 1, 2026	With BCB Resolution 561 in force
Provider settles with the overseas counterparty in stablecoin	Practiced by part of the market	Banned
Provider settles through a traditional foreign exchange transaction	One option among others	Only permitted route, alongside the one below
Provider settles through a non-resident real account in Brazil	One option among others	Permitted route, an alternative to traditional foreign exchange
Brazilian client pays or collects from the provider in reais	No change	No change: the shift is on the offshore leg, not the client relationship
Company buys stablecoin directly and pays a supplier without eFX	Under the general virtual asset framework (BCB Resolution 521)	No change under this specific resolution

In practice, this removes a route part of the eFX market used to try to lower cost and settlement time on lower value remittances. From October, those fintechs are left with traditional foreign exchange or a non-resident account as the only regulatory routes to close the offshore leg, which tends to push the cost of that service closer to conventional foreign exchange.

What the resolution does not ban

BCB Resolution 561 does not ban buying, selling or holding stablecoins in Brazil, nor does it ban transferring to your own wallet: what it closes is the virtual asset route, specifically, in settlement between an eFX provider and its counterparty abroad.

Buying and selling stablecoins remains permitted, under the general virtual asset framework. Transfers to self custody remain within that same framework, with owner identification when tied to an international payment. And paying for goods, freight or other traditional commercial transactions abroad, when a company does so directly in stablecoin without routing through an eFX provider, is not affected by this specific resolution: it follows the general foreign exchange rules for virtual assets.

It is worth being precise here: BCB Resolution 561 narrows one specific route within the eFX market, it does not open an alternative for companies looking to avoid traditional foreign exchange. Treating this rule as a loophole would be a mistaken and risky reading. Tax treatment of foreign exchange transactions tied to virtual assets, including the IOF debate, remains open and is covered in Brazil IOF tax on foreign exchange for companies.

How this fits inside the central bank's broader foreign exchange framework

BCB Resolution 561 is the fourth piece of the foreign exchange framework Brazil's central bank built for virtual assets between November 2025 and April 2026, through BCB Resolutions 519, 520, 521 and 561 itself.

The full picture, including who needs authorization as a virtual asset service provider and what changes for a company that simply uses stablecoins, is covered in VASP authorization at Brazil's central bank and Brazil's central bank stablecoin regulation: 2026 essentials.

Date	What happens	Reference rule
31 December 2022	Publication of the original international payment service (eFX) framework	BCB Resolution 277
10 November 2025	Publication of the virtual asset package, which reshapes the foreign exchange design	BCB Resolutions 519, 520 and 521
2 February 2026	Entry into force; stablecoins enter the foreign exchange market	BCB Resolutions 519, 520 and 521
30 April 2026	Publication of the restriction on eFX settlement with virtual assets	BCB Resolution 561
1 October 2026	Entry into force: virtual assets barred from the eFX offshore leg	BCB Resolution 561
30 October 2026	End of the 270 day window for virtual asset providers to file for authorization	BCB Resolution 520, art. 88

Questions to ask your eFX provider before October 1

What should you ask your eFX provider before October 1?

Request a documentable answer to four specific questions. First, whether it currently uses a virtual asset to settle with its counterparty abroad, and what replaces that route from October. Second, whether the change alters the settlement time for your remittance or collection. Third, whether the cost of the service changes from that date. Fourth, what receipt it issues per transaction, with the applicable foreign exchange code, for your own reconciliation. A vague answer on any of these is already a warning sign.

What Soulbit V1 delivers today against this restriction

Soulbit V1 delivers a B2B stablecoin payments and treasury rail for Latin American companies: it is not, and does not replace, an eFX provider authorized by Brazil's central bank to provide foreign exchange services in that country. This restriction does not open, and does not create, an alternative inside Soulbit's V1 to replace the foreign exchange settlement the rule requires. It is worth being direct about this, because treating a regulatory restriction as a commercial loophole is exactly the reading this article avoids.

What Soulbit's V1 delivers today is a B2B payments and treasury rail for Latin American companies: a business account with USDC and USDT balances, fiat limited to USD, EUR and GBP, business verification (KYB), recurring and batch payroll, payment links, collection QR, OTC on request quote, institutional custody and AML/KYT monitoring. The local banking rail exists only in Colombia; there is no local rail in reais, and Soulbit does not replace the authorized Brazilian eFX provider for that settlement.

See what Soulbit is and how it works and the comparison between SWIFT and stablecoin for international payments. For the region's broader regulatory picture, see LATAM crypto regulation landscape 2026.