Brazil'southward antitrust regulator is reportedly inspecting 6 major national banks for alleged monopolistic practices in the crypto infinite, Reuters reports September eighteen.

Brazil's antitrust regulator, the Administrative Quango for Economic Defense (CADE), which operates nether the Ministry of Justice (MJ), has purportedly launched a probe on Tuesday to find out whether the country'southward largest banks closed the accounts of brokerages trading in Bitcoin.

Co-ordinate to Reuters, the investigation by the CADE was initiated on the request of the Brazilian Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Association (ABCB) post-obit several complaints. One declared that Banco do Brasil airtight the account of local crypto trading platform Atlas Quantum.

Within the ongoing probe, the CADE volition inspect major registered banks such equally Banco do Brasil, Banco Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco Holding, Banco Santander Brasil, besides as unlisted Banco Inter and cooperative banking concern Sicredi.

Reuters cites a CADE study stating that, "the master banks are imposing restrictions or even prohibiting ... access to the financial arrangement past cryptocurrency brokerages." The banks reportedly merits that the brokers' accounts were closed due to the absence or lack of customer data, which is required under national anti-money laundering (AML) laws. Antitrust experts told Reuters:

"...illicit activities should be avoided and banks should take restrictive measures when there are indications of crimes committed by their account holders… However, it does non seem reasonable for banks to apply restrictive measures a priori on a directly-line ground to all crypto-currency companies, without examining the level of compliance and anti-fraud measures adopted by individual brokerage firms…"

Following the probe announcement, Banco do Brasil, the largest bank by assets in Brazil and Latin America, told Reuters that the company is committed to "competitive practices based on ideals and respect for free competition." Itaú Unibanco stated that information technology is "confident that its conduct will be considered legitimate."