Brazilian legislators are considering new legislation that would officially authorize employers to pay salaries to employees using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
The federal deputy Luiz Philippe de Orleans E Bragança introduced a bill offering the regulation of cryptographic payments for wages, remuneration and labor services.
Taked up on March 12, the PL 957/2025 bill legalizes voluntary and partial salary payments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) while obliging employers to proceed with part of the remuneration in national currency, the real Brazilian.
Orleans-Braganza, a descendant of the former royal family of Brazil, serves his second mandate as a federal deputy for São Paulo and supports Truth Social, the social media platform belonging to the American president Donald Trump.
Bitcoin can only represent 50% of a salary payment
In the proposed legislation, Orleans-Braganza asked legislators to prohibit employees from paying complete wages in crypto, capping these payments at 50%.
“Payment of wages exclusively in virtual assets is prohibited”, with the exception of cases involving expatriate employees or foreign workers, under regulations by the Central Bank of Brazil.
The bill also authorizes complete cryptography payments by “independent service providers”, subject to certain contractual provisions.
Otherwise, the share of payment in the Brazilian real is perhaps not less than 50% of the total payment of the employee’s salary.
The conversion of the amount paid in crypto must follow the exchange rate officially established by an institution authorized by the Central Bank of Brazil.
Reasons behind the bill
According to Orleans-Braganza, the introduction of cryptographic payment wages to Brazil has the potential to stimulate the financial technology sector and attract investments in cryptography in the local economy.
In addition, the measure “strengthens the principle of autonomy of the will, allowing workers and employers a greater freedom to decide their contractual relations, without prejudice to fundamental guarantees”, indicates the bill.
The proposal aims to follow the successful implementation of crypto payments in many world jurisdictions, notably Switzerland, Japan and Portugal, Orleans-Braganza mentioned, adding:
“In Japan, for example, legislation requires an individual agreement between the employer and the employee, as well as specific directives for the conversion of the amounts paid. In Portugal, the regulations have brought flexibility and led the adoption of virtual assets in the financial sector. ”
While some global jurisdictions allow the use of Bitcoin in payments, many countries – such as Turkey and Russia – prohibit citizens from using any cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
El Salvador – The first country to adopt bitcoin as a tender in 2021 – allows voluntary payments in crypto but no longer authorizes tax payments and government costs in crypto following an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
According to the Brazilian government, separately from cryptographic salary in Brazil, the Brazilian government has recently pushed a new initiative to facilitate BRICS transactions using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, according to a March 12 report in Valor International.
