Brazil moves to ban online betting; Venezuela proposes USD coin

Deputy Pedro Uczai (PT-SC) filed bill PL-1808/2026 in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday with the backing of 68 Workers’ Party lawmakers. The draft would repeal laws enacted under Brazil’s Bets Law and outlaw “the exploitation, operation, offering, availability, promotion, advertising, intermediation and processing of transactions related to fixed-odds betting” across the country. The proposal includes fines of up to R$2 billion (about $385 million) and prison terms of two to eight years, with harsher penalties for offenses involving minors or criminal organizations. Platforms with more than one million users would be required to remove gambling promotional content. The presidential office has not commented on the bill.

If approved in the Chamber, the draft would need to clear a vote there before moving to the Senate. The Bets Law, which created a regulated framework for fixed-odds betting and oversight, took effect on January 1, 2025 and opened the sector to licensed operators.

In Venezuela, Alejandro Grisanti, founder and CEO of Ecoanalitica, published a note proposing a U.S. dollar stablecoin issued under a regulated framework to expand dollar access for small and medium-sized enterprises. Grisanti links the proposal to problems with the current dollar allocation system, which uses auctions and multiple exchange rates that have left many firms without official access to dollars. He recommended “the implementation of a system based on stablecoins integrated into the formal financial system, subject to strict regulation and featuring AML/KYC compliance mechanisms,” and suggested allowing controlled imports of cash so companies without U.S. bank accounts can transact in dollars locally.

The Ecoanalitica proposal describes the stablecoin as a regulated instrument to settle transactions in a stable unit of account while including anti-money-laundering and customer identification controls. Venezuela has maintained strict currency controls for years; recent exchange allocation mechanisms and differing official rates have complicated dollar access for businesses and prompted private proposals for alternatives.