B3 launches six Event Contracts as Brazil blocks 28 platforms

B3 launched six federally regulated Event Contracts on April 27, including one tied to bitcoin price movements. The contracts trade at a capped price of 100 reais and settle in cash; they reference spot and mini futures moves in the Ibovespa index, the Brazilian real and bitcoin.

The securities regulator, Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM), authorized the contracts. Participation is limited to professional investors with at least 10 million reais in assets or to those who hold CVM technical certification.

The launch followed Resolution CMN nº 5,298, published April 24 by the National Monetary Council (CMN). The resolution bans derivatives tied to real sports events, online games and political, electoral, social, cultural or entertainment outcomes, takes effect May 4 and assigns enforcement and any complementary regulation to the CVM.

At a press briefing, Finance Minister Dario Durigan and Civil House Minister Miriam Belchior said the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) had blocked 28 foreign prediction market platforms at the network level. Secretariat of Prizes and Bets head Régis Dudena warned further blocks would follow for platforms operating outside the CMN’s permitted scope.

B3 described the Event Contracts as the country’s first federally regulated prediction-market instruments and said they use a mechanical structure similar to that used by some U.S.-based platforms. The trade body representing licensed Brazilian gaming operators endorsed the CMN rules, saying they prevent regulatory arbitrage by foreign platforms seeking to operate outside licensed gambling rules.

B3 already offers bitcoin futures, launched in April 2024, and lists derivatives tied to equities, currencies, commodities and interest rates. The exchange has disclosed plans to introduce a tokenization platform and a stablecoin later this year. Several foreign operators had sought to enter the Brazilian market earlier in the year.

Luiz Masagão, B3’s executive vice president for products and clients, described the contracts as “part of a broader strategy to modernize the country’s derivatives market.” The CVM will draft detailed rules and supervise firms that offer the allowed event contracts.

The CMN resolution cites Brazil’s federal sports betting framework to distinguish licensed fixed-odds betting from event-based derivatives. The CVM will oversee the permitted event contracts while 28 foreign prediction platforms have been blocked at the network level.