Brazil's Money-Laundering Forum Sets 2027 Sights on Crypto, Illegal Bets and Bank Fraud

ENCCLA wrapped its 24th plenary on Thursday, 12 November 2026, after four days in Rio de Janeiro, and named crypto-asset crime, money laundering through illegal fixed-odds betting and digital bank fraud as its priorities for 2027, according to Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The forum was created in 2003, is coordinated by the ministry, and draws together about 90 bodies from the executive, legislature, judiciary and prosecution service.

Members floated 84 initiatives, and eight were pre-selected for the plenary to consider. The ministry's National Justice Secretariat (Senajus) and its Department of Asset Recovery and International Legal Cooperation (DRCI) coordinate the process. What comes out of it will be diagnoses, catalogues, guidelines, studies and proposals for legislation or regulation — guidance, not law.

On crypto, the plan is to strengthen a national system that keeps virtual assets out of illegal activity, built around a national risk diagnosis, a catalogue of criminal methods and warning signs, and a national reference for classifying virtual assets. On betting, agencies will map how they share information on laundering tied to illegal fixed-odds bets — known in Brazil as “bets” — hunting for gaps, overlaps and delays in oversight and investigation.

For bank fraud, the target is the National Alliance against Digital Bank Fraud, an existing anti-fraud partnership that would get common standards, information-sharing and a catalogue of warning signs. A separate item would consolidate the country's asset-recovery performance indicators into one strategic dashboard.

Justice Minister Wellington César Lima e Silva told the closing session that criminal liability is indispensable, but warned that a criminal group whose resources and financing stay intact will rebuild its capacity fast. That logic runs through the asset-recovery items and a forfeiture proposal meant to sharpen the state's ability to prepare and monitor seizures without a criminal conviction — which the ministry says must respect the role of the judiciary.

ENCCLA has produced more than 350 actions since 2003. The ministry's notes list planned outputs for 2027 with no dates attached, set no penalty, and publish no figure for how much money the three priorities involve. The forfeiture proposal is attributed to the DRCI, and the ministry has not said what any legislative proposals will contain.