11-03-2026 
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TL;DR: From Brasília to Bangkok to Mumbai, the institutions behind traditional finance (TradFi) spent the past week drawing digital assets further into rules and remit. Itaú Unibanco became the first Brazilian bank reported to have formally notified the central bank of its crypto trading and custody business under the country’s new framework, while Thailand’s Supreme Court upheld a robbery conviction on the basis that BTC counts as property under criminal law, and the Reserve Bank of India pressed state governments to use its programmable CBDC.
Key Takeaways:
- Itaú Unibanco becomes the first Brazilian bank reported to have notified the central bank of its crypto trading and custody activities under the country’s new digital asset regulations.
- Thailand’s Supreme Court recognizes Bitcoin as property under criminal law, strengthening legal protections against crypto-related theft.
- India’s central bank pushes programmable digital rupees to improve the efficiency and traceability of government welfare payments.
A first for Brazil’s traditional banking elite
Itaú Unibanco, Brazil’s largest private bank, has formally notified the country’s central bank, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), of its cryptocurrency trading and custody activities, becoming the first Brazilian bank reported to have completed the notification process under the new digital asset regulations.
The filing was completed on October 27, 2026, three days before the deadline for financial institutions already providing crypto services, and brings the bank’s digital asset operations into alignment with the country’s new regulatory framework under Resolution BCB 520, which was enacted on November 10, 2025, and became effective February 2, 2026.
Along with resolutions 519 and 521, which together make up the framework, the rules require virtual asset service providers (VASPs), including crypto exchanges and custodians, to obtain BCB authorization and meet governance, cybersecurity, risk management, anti-money laundering (AML), and customer-protection standards.
Under the framework, providers are classified as intermediaries, custodians, or brokers, while the regime also brings certain crypto transactions, including some cross-border transfers and stablecoin-related activities, within foreign-exchange and international capital regulations.
Itaú’s notification covers cryptocurrency trading and custody, activities corresponding to the brokerage category under the new rules—unlike dedicated crypto providers, who must apply for authorization, financial institutions already authorized by the central bank follow a notification process.
“From the beginning, we have prioritized an approach based on customer security, and we believe that this progress creates increasingly solid foundations for the development of digital assets in Brazil and worldwide,” said Guto Antunes, superintendent of digital assets at Itaú Unibanco. “An environment with clear rules and high standards of security and governance benefits the entire industry and, especially, consumers.”
In its October 27 press release, Itaú said it has offered the purchase and sale of crypto assets since December 2023, with more than 14 virtual assets currently offered by the bank, including BTC, Ether (ETH), and USDC.
The bank also emphasized that it “does not disclose the number of clients using the service or the financial volume transacted in crypto.”
While Brazil is bringing crypto within the regulatory perimeter through rulemaking, in Thailand, it was the courts’ turn to clarify where digital assets stand under the law.
Thailand ruling recognizes BTC as property
A landmark ruling by Thailand’s Supreme Court has said that BTC qualifies as property under criminal law, allowing BTC the same protections as other categories of property and setting a precedent for how digital assets may be treated in the country going forward.
According to local outlet Siam Blockchain, the ruling—numbered 4929/2569—was issued by the Supreme Court’s full bench and dates back to a September 2022 violent robbery on the island of Koh Samui, where a group of foreign nationals, including individuals from Germany, Russia and Kazakhstan, threatened and assaulted the victim, a Russian car rental shop owner, before forcing him to purchase and transfer 2.480801 BTC, currently worth around $198,504.74, but at the time would have been around $48,200.
The defendants were initially found guilty in a lower court, which imposed the harshest penalty available of 15 years imprisonment for jointly committing robbery using a vehicle.
However, the defendants appealed the case to the Supreme Court, arguing that “the cryptocurrency or Bitcoin that was transferred has no intrinsic value, and therefore cannot be considered as taking another person’s property under the law.”
Currently, Thailand regulates digital assets as a distinct asset class rather than banning them outright or treating them as legal tender. Under the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018), cryptocurrencies and digital tokens are subject to a framework overseen by the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with licensing requirements for regulated service providers.
The ambiguity with regard to property arises as the law distinguishes cryptocurrencies from tokens representing investment or rights to goods and services.
However, the Supreme Court rejected the defendant’s argument that BTC had no intrinsic value and therefore could not qualify as property capable of being stolen under Thai law. Thus, in terms of the broader significance, the ruling recognized Bitcoin’s economic value without making it a currency or changing the wider regulatory framework.
In and of itself, the ruling is unlikely to reshape Thailand’s digital asset legislation or trigger a broader reclassification of cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, by rejecting the argument that BTC’s lack of physical form or legal-tender status makes it valueless, the Supreme Court has strengthened the basis for prosecuting similar offenses and ordering restitution, even if the extent to which the reasoning applies to other digital assets or different legal contexts remains to be seen.
If the Thai ruling was about how the law protects privately held and issued digital assets, India’s central bank is focused on a digital currency of its own making, one in which there can be no ambiguity over whether it has value.
India’s central bank pushes its Programmable CBDC
Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra urged Indian State finance secretaries to onboard onto the Unified Lending Interface (ULI), a digital public infrastructure platform introduced by the central bank to enable frictionless, consent-based credit access, as well as to utilize ‘Programmable Central Bank Digital Currency (P-CBDC)’ for Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT).
On October 27, the RBI held its 36th Conference of State Finance Secretaries in Mumbai, attended by the Finance Secretaries of 27 States and three Union Territories, as well as senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, Controller General of Accounts, and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
At the event, RBI Governor Malhotra took the opportunity to promote the use of both the bank’s ULI and the P-CBDC.
The central bank introduced its CBDC, the digital rupee (e₹), through wholesale and retail pilots launched in November and December 2022, respectively. The retail version enables digital payments through bank-provided wallets, while the wholesale version supports financial-market settlements. The program remains in pilot-based expansion, but is being explored for programmability, offline payments, welfare transfers, and cross-border transactions.
Meanwhile, the P-CBDC was launched in August of this year to more easily facilitate and improve the traceability of DBTs, India’s flagship governance reform, which allows for the transfer of government subsidies, welfare funds, and pensions directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries.
The RBI’s push for the technology suggests that the CBDC pilot is progressing well, and that India—the most populous country and the sixth-fastest crypto adopter in the world (according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis)—looks set to continue its growing relationship with digital assets.
FAQs:
What did Itaú Unibanco do, and why does it matter?
Itaú, Brazil’s largest private bank, notified the Banco Central do Brasil of its crypto trading and custody activities on October 27, 2026, three days before the deadline. It is reportedly the first Brazilian bank to complete this notification under the new digital asset rules. Banks already authorized by the central bank follow a notification process, while dedicated crypto providers must apply for authorization.
What did Thailand’s Supreme Court decide about BTC?
In ruling 4929/2569, the court held that BTC qualifies as property under criminal law, rejecting the defendants’ argument that it has no intrinsic value and so can’t be stolen. The case involved a 2022 robbery on Koh Samui in which the victim was forced to transfer 2.480801 BTC. The ruling strengthens the basis for prosecuting similar crimes and ordering restitution, but it doesn’t make BTC a currency or change Thailand’s wider regulatory framework.
What is India’s central bank doing with its digital currency?
At the RBI’s 36th Conference of State Finance Secretaries on October 27, Governor Sanjay Malhotra urged states to use the Programmable CBDC (P-CBDC) for Direct Benefit Transfers, and to onboard onto the Unified Lending Interface for consent-based credit access. The P-CBDC launched in August 2026 to improve the traceability of government subsidies, welfare funds, and pensions, building on the digital rupee pilots that began in 2022.
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