Brazil Local Node - Regional Evaluation
Web3 Landscape in Brazil
Latin America has emerged as a key player in the global crypto economy, accounting for 10% of worldwide crypto transactions in 2024, making it the second-fastest-growing region, according to Chainalysis. The region’s adoption is driven by factors such as currency instability, financial inclusion, and growing institutional interest. In 2024, four Latin American countries ranked among the top 20 in the Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index: Brazil (9), Mexico (13), Venezuela (14), and Argentina (15). Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico lead in crypto transaction volume, signaling strong engagement from retail and institutional investors. Brazil stands out as the region’s largest crypto hub, with over 16 million crypto holders, representing
7.8% of the population (16 million crypto holders) . The market is becoming increasingly institutionalized, with major banks such as Banco do Brasil, Itaú, Inter, and Nubank integrating crypto-related services, tokenization initiatives, and blockchain infrastructure. This institutional support is fostering wider adoption, regulatory advancements, and mainstream acceptance of digital assets.
Regulatory Landscape of Web3 in Brazil
Brazil has made significant progress in providing regulatory clarity for crypto service providers. The approval of Law No. 14.478/2022 created a national framework for VASPs (crypto service providers), establishing compliance obligations and assigning supervisory responsibility to the Central Bank (BACEN). In 2024, BACEN released Public Consultation No. 111/24, signaling an effort to expand oversight to sectors like stablecoins, tokenized assets, and DeFi service providers.
Brazil is establishing itself as a global leader in financial innovation through the development of Drex, the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). While regulations on public blockchains, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and permissionless DeFi protocols are still evolving, Drex’s introduction is a strong indicator of Brazil’s commitment to Web3 innovation. The government’s approach balances financial stability with technological progress, making Brazil an attractive market for crypto startups, institutional investors, and blockchain projects.
Challenges in the Region
Despite strong growth, Brazil’s crypto ecosystem faces significant challenges:
- Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) Influence: The presence of high-impact influencers can sometimes lead to market hype and misinformation.
- Ethereum Community Development: The Ethereum ecosystem in Brazil is still emerging, requiring better developer incentives, educational initiatives, and structured community engagement.
- User Trust & Education: Due to crypto scams and asset volatility, consumer education remains a priority for sustainable adoption.
Key Players in the Brazilian Crypto Ecosystem - CEX, Events and Communities
(This list is merely illustrative; there are certainly other relevant players in Brazil)
Centralized Exchanges (CEXs) in Brazil
- Binance
- Mercado Bitcoin
- Bybit
Brazilian Web3 Projects - Picnic
- BRLA
- Pods
- Sweep n Flip
- DOOR
- MEMO
- 77 innovation Labs
- Blockful
- Some asset tokenization initiatives
Institutions & Universities Supporting Web3 - Hashdex
- Fenasbac
- Banco Inter
- Nubank
- Banco BV
- Banco Central (Drex)
- Inteli, ITA, UFABC, Ibmec, USP (Polichain), UNB, UFVJM, UFSC, UFRJ, UFMG
Web3 Communities in Brazil - Blockful
- Modular Crypto
- Mercurius Crypto
- Paradigma
- Gira Hub
- Parabuilders
- Blockafee
- Base Brasil
- Nouns Brasil
- Crypto Rastas
- Mega DAO
- Go BTC
- Confraria
- Radiantz
- Legacy
- Builders On Fire
Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) - Bitnada
- Andre Franco
- Bruno Perini
- Felipe Percigo
- DefiVerso
- Hazim
- Primo Pobre
- Caio Vicentino
- Universidade Bitcoin
Major Web3 Events in Brazil (2025) - Modular House (june, july and august)
- Modular Carnival - February 26 - Belo Horizonte
- Blockchain Rio - August 5-7 - Rio de Janeiro
- Ethereum Rio - April 24-25 - Rio de Janeiro
- Ethereum Brasil - June 9-10 - São Paulo
- NFT Brasil - June 4-5 - São Paulo
- BitSampa, Criptorama, EthSamba - TBA
- EthLatam 2025 - November 7-9 - São Paulo
- Web Summit - April 27-30 - Rio de Janeiro
Local Ecosystem
In Brazil, several blockchains already have an active presence. The longest-standing one is Polkadot, which has maintained continuous activity through university partnerships and support for government-backed initiatives. Solana is present via Superteam Brazil, running events with a light focus on developers and community building. ICP was active over the past year with project incubation, hackathons, and community events. Avalanche has been gaining ground recently by supporting local meetups and developer gatherings. Stellar maintains a presence focused on institutional partnerships and technical education. More recently, Arbitrum and Base have started building their presence in Brazil, focusing on community growth and local activations. While each protocol has its own approach, the increasing presence of multiple ecosystems shows the strategic importance of Brazil — and opens space for Scroll to establish itself with a strong technical and cultural narrative.
Crypto-Friendly Businesses
While the number of businesses directly accepting crypto in Brazil remains limited, pilot cities like Rolante (RS) and Santo Antônio do Pinhal (SP) stand out as concrete examples of real-world adoption. In Rolante, over 200 merchants accept Bitcoin as payment; in Santo Antônio do Pinhal, more than 70 establishments are part of a similar initiative. These efforts are community-led and represent some of the most advanced experiments in building circular crypto economies in Latin America.
Beyond these towns, a few national and international services are available to Brazilian users who want to spend crypto. Examples include Refúgio Bitcoin, Loja Bitcoinheiros, Innova Host, Stackbit, Travala, PureVPN, Coinkite, and CheapAir. While still far from mainstream, these initiatives — especially at the local level — show that crypto is beginning to move from speculation to utility in specific regions of the country.
Leadership
Modular Crypto is a Brazilian initiative focused on education, media, and community infrastructure for Web3. Originally created within Bankless Brasil, Modular evolved into a standalone operation with national reach and a clear mission: to onboard both technical and non-technical users into the Web3 ecosystem through consistent, localized, and high-quality content. Our work spans content production, community engagement, research, governance, and developer outreach — always with a focus on long-term strategy and ecosystem alignment.
We operate one of the most structured Web3 content calendars in Brazil. Our distribution includes weekly livestreams, podcasts, research reports, editorial content, and community sessions — published across YouTube, Twitter, newsletters, and Discord. In 2024, we reached over 1.3 million Twitter impressions and 1.2 million on YouTube, and 4,000+ in-person participants across multiple cities. Our Discord hosts more than 1,500 active members, and our network includes top universities, independent developers, DAOs, innovation hubs, and KOLs throughout Brazil.
Relevant initiatives include:
- Modular House: a multi-city IRL tour with workshops, curated content, and networking sessions.
- Governance Study Group: a 4-week DAO education program in partnership with CONDEB, focused on governance literacy and proposal development.
- Modular Carnaval 2025: one of the largest crypto-native gatherings in Brazil, with 1,500+ attendees and 200+ hackers.
We understand both institutional and grassroots dynamics, and we tailor our approach accordingly — bridging dev communities, student groups, founders, and media audiences. Our involvement with Scroll began during its testnet phase. We published early content, introduced the protocol to our audience, and featured it in livestreams and newsletters before mainnet. In 2024 and 2025, we integrated Scroll into two of our events — Modular Xmas and Modular Carnaval — through talks, workshops, and brand presence. We’ve since deepened this connection by supporting Scroll through dedicated research, Twitter threads, etc.
More recently, we became active delegates in Scroll governance — a role we take seriously as part of our long-term commitment to the protocol. Our goal is to help Scroll become one of the leading blockchains in Brazil, not through short-term activations, but through continuous, grounded, and collaborative community work. We are prepared to lead the Scroll Local Node in Brazil and we’re open to collaborating with other local communities, builders, and institutions along the way to ensure this becomes a shared and sustainable effort.
Proposed Initiatives
Aligned with the Scroll Foundation’s guidelines, our main priority will be to expand the ecosystem by attracting more builders, developers, founders, and entrepreneurs to build on Scroll — while continuing to support community members and end users through localized education and engagement.
We will kick off with original, high-quality educational content, including workshops, research articles, and explainers focused on Scroll’s idea and use cases. This will be amplified through Modular’s distribution channels — Twitter, YouTube, newsletters — ensuring constant visibility and education in Portuguese.
Our team will remain actively involved in Scroll’s official community spaces, especially Discord, and will lead localized initiatives such as onboarding sessions, Twitter Spaces, governance discussions, and ongoing support for the Portuguese-speaking community.
We will also develop partnerships with local KOLs, DAOs, developer collectives, and student groups. To encourage decentralized participation, a public task board will be launched with open contributions — from organizing university meetups and writing explainers to meme creation and technical content.
One of our main initiatives will be to host a Scroll Open Brazil, a six-week builder track designed to support early-stage projects and connect selected teams to the next global Scroll Open. In parallel, we plan to organize three in-person events during the year and co-host a hackathon with public sector partners (CARF and UFBA).
These efforts will follow a cohesive strategy to grow Scroll’s technical footprint in Brazil, while reinforcing community trust, visibility, and long-term user engagement.
Support Needed:
To deliver the Local Node successfully, we would require:
- Budget for operations, content, events, and logistics
- Coordination with Scroll’s team for visibility, collaboration, and alignment
- Visibility across official Scroll platforms to amplify local results and connect Brazil to the broader global network
Why Your Region
Brazil is one of the most active crypto markets globally, with over 16 million users, a solid regulatory framework under development, and strong momentum around Ethereum-based infrastructure. The country is advancing in tokenization, DeFi regulation, and public-sector experimentation through the Central Bank’s Drex initiative. At the same time, the local ecosystem is growing fast: universities are offering blockchain programs, hackathons attract thousands, and communities are increasingly engaging with blockchain solutions. This creates an ideal environment for Scroll to build long-term presence and developer alignment.
A Local Node in Brazil would allow Scroll to connect deeply with a highly engaged and rapidly expanding ecosystem. With the right coordination, Scroll can become a leading blockhain in the country — providing localized support, developer onboarding, governance participation, and integration with real use cases.