Latin America’s crypto landscape saw several notable developments over the past week, led by a major regulatory move in Brazil and renewed attention on the region’s role in global Bitcoin mining. While Brazilian authorities moved to prohibit non-financial prediction market contracts, industry research pointed to rising mining potential in countries such as Brazil, Paraguay, and Venezuela. At the same time, one of Brazil’s largest banking groups signaled growing institutional interest in mining infrastructure linked to renewable energy.
Brazil bans non-financial prediction market contracts
Brazil’s National Monetary Council issued Resolution No. 5,298 on April 24, introducing a broad prohibition on derivative contracts tied to non-financial underlying events. Under the new rule, contracts connected to real-world sports events, virtual online gaming events, and real or virtual political, electoral, social, cultural, or entertainment events are no longer allowed in the country.
The measure draws a clear regulatory line between speculative event-based products and traditional financial derivatives. The resolution still permits derivatives linked to economic and financial benchmarks, including price and index rates, securities indexes, bond indexes, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, and the prices of commodities, financial assets, and securities traded on organized exchanges or over-the-counter markets.
The decision followed a technical note from Brazil’s Secretariat of Prizes and Betting, the country’s gambling regulator, which reportedly concluded that prediction market platforms “simply reproduce the essential elements of fixed-odds betting.” That characterization appears to have shaped the broader policy response, especially as regulators seek to distinguish financial innovation from products they view as closer to gambling.
For market participants, the ruling signals that Brazil is unlikely to tolerate broad event-contract activity outside recognized financial use cases. It also suggests that legal room remains open for conventional financial hedging and benchmark-linked derivatives, even as authorities restrict products tied to sports, politics, and entertainment outcomes.
Hashrate Index sees Latin America as a rising mining region
On the mining side, a new report from Hashrate Index, titled The State of Bitcoin Mining in Latin America (2026), argues that Latin America could become a more important player in global Bitcoin mining. Although mining remains dominated by countries such as the United States, China, and Russia, the report points to growing momentum across parts of the region.
Paraguay stands out as the most established mining hub in Latin America. According to the report, the country hosts 43 EH/s of Bitcoin hashrate, representing 4.3% of the global total. That makes it one of the most significant jurisdictions for mining activity worldwide.
Beyond Paraguay, however, the report places special emphasis on Brazil and Venezuela as markets with room for further expansion. Brazil, in particular, recorded a 133% year-over-year increase in its share of Bitcoin hashrate. The report attributes part of that opportunity to changes in how miners can access electricity. Rather than relying solely on distributor tariffs and related charges, miners can negotiate directly with companies in the power generation market to secure energy rates, potentially improving operating economics.
Venezuela, meanwhile, is described as a market with underutilized potential. Even under current conditions, it reportedly accounts for 5 EH/s of hashrate. That figure suggests that the country already has a measurable mining base and may have further upside if structural constraints ease.
Taken together, the findings reinforce a broader narrative around Latin America’s mining appeal: access to energy resources, room for infrastructure development, and a growing willingness among companies to explore new commercial models around power and compute.
Itaú Ventures backs mobile Bitcoin mining tied to green energy
Institutional capital is also beginning to align with that theme. Itaú, one of Brazil’s largest banks, is moving into the mining and data center space through its investment arm, Itaú Ventures. According to local media cited in the source material, Itaú Ventures invested in Minter, a company focused on addressing one of the persistent challenges in renewable energy systems: curtailment.
Minter’s model is designed to capture electricity that might otherwise be wasted or never produced at full capacity because of grid limitations or demand imbalances. The company combines mining hardware with mobile container-based infrastructure, allowing equipment to be deployed closer to renewable generation sites instead of relying on permanently fixed locations.
The reported investment can reach up to $10 million, giving Minter both capital support and the backing of a major financial name. In practical terms, the model offers an alternative pathway for energy producers seeking to monetize surplus renewable power. Rather than allowing generation to go unused, operators can direct that energy into Bitcoin mining through mobile units installed near the source.
This approach is increasingly relevant in markets where renewable buildouts can outpace transmission capacity or where energy supply fluctuates by season and time of day. Mobile mining infrastructure does not solve every problem in power markets, but it may provide a flexible mechanism for capturing stranded or curtailed energy in a commercially useful way.
A region balancing tighter oversight and industrial expansion
The contrast between these developments is notable. On one hand, Brazil is tightening oversight over products it sees as falling outside acceptable financial activity, especially where event-based speculation overlaps with gambling-like mechanics. On the other hand, the country is simultaneously emerging as a more active center for Bitcoin mining, supported by favorable energy arrangements, stronger hashrate growth, and capital deployment from major financial institutions.
That combination may become a defining feature of the next phase of Latin America’s crypto market. Regulation is not moving uniformly in a permissive direction; instead, authorities appear willing to restrict some forms of crypto-adjacent speculation while leaving room for infrastructure, energy-linked mining, and more traditional financial market activity.
For investors and industry observers, the message is mixed but clear: Latin America is not a single-story market. Brazil’s prediction market ban shows that regulators are drawing sharper boundaries. At the same time, the region’s mining narrative continues to gain strength, especially where energy economics and infrastructure innovation intersect. If recent trends continue, Latin America may play a larger role in Bitcoin mining even as policymakers take a more selective stance toward other market segments.