Brazil’s institutional crypto infrastructure on display at BCB 2025

Blockchain Conference Brasil (November 28-29, São Paulo) has assembled a speaker lineup reflecting crypto’s growing institutional presence in Latin America, with Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, BlackRock Brazil’s Cristiano Castro, B3 executives, and Binance leadership confirmed for the two-day summit.

Stablecoin infrastructure meets asset allocation frameworks

Paolo Ardoino leads Tether, which issues USDT – a stablecoin with $183 billion market capitalization, now comparable to major publicly traded corporations. Bloomberg recently valued Tether at $500 billion following $15-20 billion funding discussions, exceeding the combined market value of Brazil’s largest companies, including Petrobras, Itaú, Vale, BTG Pactual, Ambev, and Banco do Brasil.

Ardoino’s session will cover how stablecoins serve as settlement infrastructure and liquidity rails, relevant as emerging markets increasingly use crypto for practical payments rather than speculation.

Cristiano Castro, BlackRock Brazil’s Business Development Director with experience at BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Itaú Unibanco, Citibank, and Ambev, will present “Digital Asset Allocation: Reshaping the Financial System and Investment Portfolios.”

His session focuses on portfolio construction as institutional investors integrate digital assets, a timely topic given BlackRock Brazil CEO Bruno Barino’s recent comment that “cryptocurrency investment is a reality and it makes no sense to run from it.”

B3 data: R$75B in ETF assets, 850K investors

Brazil’s stock exchange B3 released its 2025 Annual ETF Report on November 13, showing the industry surpassed R$75 billion in consolidated assets with over 850,000 investors (81% retail).

B3 notes Brazil has moved from “democratization” of access to “more sophisticated yet accessible products,” with 2025 marking a record year for product innovation. The exchange lists 19 crypto-linked products (ETFs and ETF BDRs) tracking Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies.

Total net assets of crypto funds and ETFs on B3 reached approximately R$13.7 billion as of April 2025, with the first product (HASH11) launching in April 2021.

The conference panel “ETFs and Crypto Funds: The Engine of Institutional Adoption” brings together Felipe Gonçalves (B3), Samir Kerbage (Hashdex Global CIO), and Fernando Carvalho (QR Capital CEO) to discuss institutional product development.

Binance Research: payment protocols and privacy tech

Binance Research’s November 11 report highlighted three trends:

• x402 payment protocol adoption
• Privacy coin growth (Zcash surpassing Monero)
• AI trading models that underperformed due to risk management issues

Despite a 6.1% market decline in October, Bitcoin dominance increased and institutional interest in Ethereum grew. Leverage returned after historic liquidations, with professional investors showing no panic.

Guilherme Nazar, Binance’s Regional VP for Latin America, will discuss crypto’s role in global economic infrastructure, emphasizing adoption driven by practical payment use cases in emerging markets.

Infrastructure and identity: Truther and Tools for Humanity

Rocelo Lopes (Truther), active in crypto since 2013 and serving as master sponsor, emphasized the conference’s infrastructure focus:

The quality and quantity of content generated in a space like this tends to help the market more and more.

Juliana Felippe, General Director of Tools for Humanity in Brazil, will address privacy infrastructure and digital wallet evolution, including password-to-hash transitions and proof of humanity – critical components for scaling crypto beyond technical users.

We believe blockchain-based solutions have the power to bring more security, innovation, and trust to the internet, especially for the World protocol. Brazil is one of the great technology hubs, so it makes total sense for us to be here,

Felippe stated.

Felipe Escudero, event organizer, positioned Brazil’s strategic role:

We believe Brazil has the conditions to lead the next wave of crypto adoption. BCB functions as a showcase and catalyst: we connect local innovation to global players ready to build here. By showcasing cases, technology, and strong communities, we open doors for investments and the expansion of solutions made in the country.

Technical details

📍 Expo Center Norte, São Paulo
📅 November 28-29, 2025
💰 20% discount: MEDIAPARTNER20
🎟 blockchainconferencebrasil.com

Blockport is a media partner of Blockchain Conference Brasil 2025.

Event supporters: Truther (master sponsor), Binance, Kast, Nomad, oobit, Mexc, Prohash, Liqi, Ever Value, Uniswap, Cardano, Coins.XYZ, Tools for Humanity, BingX, and others.