The Central Bank of Brazil (Bacen) has officially recognized Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as assets and, indirectly, as a means of payment. Thus, it will use the guidelines of the IMF(International Monetary fund) to classify the crypto assets in the country.

The adoption means traded cryptocurrencies in the country will be counted as non-financial products. Thus, the central bank’s balance sheet will count it as ‘goods’. The balance sheet of the Central Bank of Brazil is similar to that of a regular bank. It summarizes its financial position and assets, equity and liabilities make it up. The buying and selling of cryptocurrencies require the execution of foreign exchange contracts. Thus, the bank has decided to consider it in its export and import statistics. Apparently, Brazil being the net importer of cryptocurrencies has lowered the trade surplus on its balance sheet.

The classification of cryptocurrencies as goods is important as it will make them eligible for payment mechanism. The Balance of Payments Statistics Committee had recommended these classifications as per the source. It is an advisory committee of the IMF Statistics Department that generally looks on external sector statistics methodology.

Brazil has embraced cryptocurrencies long back. Recently, citizens of the Brazilian city of Fortaleza got access to pay crypto for public transport. The newer payment options thus aim at attracting more users and reducing bureaucracy in the system.