Stablecoin settlement is banned, but individual investors can still freely buy and sell—who exactly is Brazil's policy trying to protect? Institutions are crying and fainting, retail investors are just watching.

Brazil's central bank has banned stablecoin and crypto settlement in cross-border payments for fintechs and payment firms. The ban closes the back-end payment rail for cross-border flows, according to the announcement. Individual crypto investors retain the ability to buy and hold digital assets