Push For Bitcoin Reserve Gains Momentum In Brazil

Pedro Guerra, chief of staff to Vice‑President Geraldo Alckmin, has reaffirmed that he intends to press ahead with the idea of adding Bitcoin to Brazil's sovereign reserves

Pedro Guerra, chief of staff to Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, is pressing ahead with plans to add bitcoin to Brazil’s sovereign reserves, arguing that the country can no longer afford to ignore “the most rigorously stress-tested monetary network on the planet.”

The proposal first surfaced last month when Guerra deviated from a prepared address at the inauguration of the parliamentary “Competitive Brazil Front” to call for lawmakers to study bitcoin “with the same seriousness we bring to fiscal frameworks and tax reform.” That plea, which went viral in Brasília and the broader crypto sector, was met with surprise but little open hostility.

Push For Bitcoin Reserve Pursues Varying Interest Rates

The political aide elaborated on the initiative and dismissed suggestions that it was a publicity ploy during a one-hour interview with economist and author Fernando Ulrich.

“We’re not talking about a hypothetical experiment; bitcoin has survived sixteen years of open-source adversarial testing,” Guerra said. “If the United States Treasury can hold confiscated bitcoin and publicly debate how to manage it, Brazil—a G20 economy with a sophisticated payments stack—must at least evaluate whether a strategic allocation makes sense.”

Guerra’s advocacy dovetails with a 2024 bill by Congressman Eros Biondini, which would authorize the Central Bank of Brazil and the National Treasury to accumulate bitcoin alongside gold and foreign currency. The text has yet to reach committee, but Guerra calls it “a very important first step” that will “democratize a debate that ultimately concerns every Brazilian: the long-term purchasing power of our money.”

Any reserve strategy would need “a clear governance framework—who custodies the keys, what disclosure cadence, what risk metrics,” he added, but argued that Brazil’s post-hyperinflation institutions are mature enough for the task. The Central Bank’s track record with PIX instant payments and the ongoing wholesale CBDC pilot, Drex, proves the state can deliver complex digital infrastructure, though he was careful to draw sharp boundaries between CBDCs, altcoins and bitcoin itself.

“Three confusions dominate in Brasília,” observed Guerra. “First, lumping bitcoin together with every other crypto asset; second, equating it to Drex; third, reducing it to ‘just blockchain.’ They are three entirely different animals.” For Guerra, the macro case is straightforward: Brazil’s public investment gap is widening even as its dollar reserves earn negative real yields, and a hard-capped digital asset could serve as an intergenerational store of value akin to a sovereign wealth fund.

If we’re proud of hosting COP 30 and speaking of future stewardship, preserving purchasing power for the next generation is part of that duty.

Pedro Guerra, chief of staff to the vice president of Brazil

"If we’re proud of hosting COP 30 and speaking of future stewardship, preserving purchasing power for the next generation is part of that duty," he said, referring to bitcoin’s 21 million unit limit and censorship-resistant settlement layer.

Ulrich, who lived through the country’s 1980s hyperinflation, concurred that ignorance of basic monetary mechanics plagues policymaking. Guerra agreed, recalling that in two decades of party work “everyone talks fiscal adjustment, no one asks ‘what is money?’” He cited former Central Bank president Gustavo Franco—“Currency is a national symbol; it must have purchasing power”—to underline that reserve debates are as much about identity as spreadsheets.

Inside the government, Guerra says reactions have been “surprisingly positive.” While acknowledging silent skeptics, he reported encouragement from economists and civil servants intrigued by the fiscal diversification angle. Criticism has focused less on principle than on implementation questions, especially custody. But Guerra insists those technicalities are solvable: “The benefits of even a modest pilot position outweigh the complications.”

The chief of staff plans to brief Vice-President Alckmin and relevant cabinet members in the coming weeks, after which the government may submit comments on the Biondini bill or propose an alternative framework. In parallel, Guerra is encouraging think-tanks to model optimal position sizing relative to Brazil’s $350 billion reserve portfolio.

At press time, BTC traded at $84,631.