Brazil bans nonfinancial prediction markets; LatAm mining expands

On April 24 Brazil’s National Monetary Council published Resolution No. 5,298, which prohibits derivative contracts linked to nonfinancial underlying events. The resolution lists real sporting events, virtual online gaming events and real or virtual political, electoral, social, cultural or entertainment events as prohibited under those derivative contracts. It allows derivatives tied to economic and financial benchmarks, including prices and rate indices, securities and bond indices, interest and exchange rates, and commodities and financial assets traded on organized exchanges or over-the-counter markets. The Secretariat of Prizes and Betting concluded in a Technical Note that prediction market platforms reproduce elements of fixed-odds betting, a point cited by the council in issuing the rule.

The ban affects platforms that enable trading on outcomes of elections, sports, entertainment and similar nonfinancial events, removing that class of derivative contracts from the regulated market in Brazil. The National Monetary Council sets monetary and credit policy, and enforcement of the resolution will follow the country’s existing regulatory framework for derivatives and for gambling-related activities.

Separately, Hashrate Index published a regional mining study titled The State of Bitcoin Mining in Latin America (2026) that maps current and potential growth. The report estimates Paraguay hosts about 43 exahashes per second (EH/s), roughly 4.3% of global bitcoin hashrate. Brazil’s share of hashrate increased 133% year over year, and Venezuela registers about 5 EH/s. The report identifies Brazil and Venezuela as countries with potential to expand Latin America’s share of global bitcoin mining.

Hashrate Index notes changes in Brazil’s energy market that allow miners to negotiate directly with generation companies to secure tariffs, bypassing distributor fees and additional surcharges. That structure can lower electricity costs for mining operations and create new commercial arrangements for energy producers and mining firms.

Itau Ventures, the investment arm of a major Brazilian bank, has invested in Minter, a company that deploys mobile bitcoin mining containers to locations where renewable energy is produced. The investment is described as undisclosed and has been reported to reach up to $10 million. Minter’s business model addresses curtailment-when renewable output is reduced because supply exceeds demand or grid constraints-by operating mining hardware at generation sites to use energy that would otherwise be curtailed.

The investment positions Minter as an option for energy producers to monetize excess or unused generation and connects a large financial institution to projects combining modular mining hardware and renewable energy.