Brazilian Business Roundup - October 20

Welcome to your go-to source for the latest in Business and Tech across Brazil and Latin America! We bring you a curated roundup of the most intriguing stories each week, ensuring you stay informed and ahead of the curve. 

In just 5 minutes, you'll get a concise overview of the region's key developments, from groundbreaking tech innovations to pivotal business moves. Our mission is to provide you with valuable insights to drive smarter decisions and spark new ideas. Ready to dive into the highlights? Let's get started!

📰Here’s our Top Stories:

🪙Brazilian crypto traders announce new stablecoin.

A group of Brazil’s top crypto brokers has come together to launch a new stablecoin, BRL1, pegged to the Brazilian real. As a low-cost, practical option for investors to get into crypto, stablecoins have gained traction globally, moving more than USD 172 billion. Read more

🚗Brazil should be a tourism Mecca. Why it isn’t?

Paris hosted 26 million international visitors in 2023. Brazil, meanwhile, has never reached the mark of seven million foreign tourists in a year. The competition to attract international tourists is fierce. The idea that Brazil’s lush landscapes, vibrant culture, and friendly hospitality are enough to attract potential travelers is a fallacy. Read more

👁️🗨️Facial recognition systems lack transparency in Brazil

Facial recognition technology is being used by law enforcement to monitor an estimated 78 million Brazilians — over a third of the population — through nearly 300 state and city projects. A new report by two think tanks reveals that most of these systems operate with little accountability, raising alarms about transparency and potential misuse.  Read more

👀Worth keeping an eye on!

♻️New rules greenlight agribusiness funds to invest in carbon credits. Read more

📱Brazil accounted for 85 percent of Bluesky global users during X ban. Read more

⛽Brazil’s hopes for the future of biofuels.  Read more

🌍Seeking ways to boost Brazil-Africa relations. Read more

🎨Check out this week’s cartoon.

Paris, the City of Light, is one of Europe’s biggest and most bustling cities. And one could make an argument that São Paulo, Latin America’s biggest and most chaotic city, could make a claim to the “City of Light” moniker, with its 24-hour energy and pulsating skyline. 

But that perhaps tenuous comparison looks wildly inaccurate over the last week, as more than a million São Paulo residents stayed the whole weekend without electricity after a powerful storm and high winds.  Read more

🎙️ On this week’s podcast …

Seemingly from nowhere, the online sports betting market has swept across Brazil like a tsunami, and the pernicious effects of gambling addiction are already having clear signs on society. Listen to the full podcast here!

Every Wednesday, join us for a new episode of the Explaining Brazil podcast — a finalist for the Digiday Media Awards for Best Podcast! Dive deep into Brazil's most pressing issues with expert analysis and engaging discussions. Whether politics, business, or culture, we’ve got you covered.

Don't miss out! Follow us on all major podcast platforms, subscribe, and never miss an episode. Click here to listen now and enjoy! You can also watch it on our YouTube channel here!

Love our podcast? Consider advertising with us and take your business to the next level. Email us at hello@brazilian.report for more details.

✈️On-the-Fly Headlines

🌾Brazil expects record grain harvest despite climate disruptions. Read the details

🔌Government goes after regulators, São Paulo officials after new outage. Read the details

📈After July drop, Brazil’s economic activity rises slightly in August.  Read the details

⛈️The cost of environmental disasters for Brazil. Read the details

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🥳🎉We’re turning 7!  

As we celebrate yet another anniversary, we proudly look back at what we have accomplished, and we’re looking forward to the next achievements and milestones our journey has in store.

Making good journalism is never easy, and it can be even more challenging in such a complex environment as Brazil and Latin America. 

So, to celebrate our seventh birthday, and to salute the coming steps, we’ve looked back and picked out some moments, achievements, and some of our work which we will highlight during our birthday month.

We thank our subscribers and partners for their support during the journey. And if you’re not yet a subscriber, hop on and join the ride! Learn more about our plans here!

That wraps up this week’s edition. See you next Sunday evening! Subscribe to the Brazilian Business News Roundup, your essential weekly recap to never miss a beat in Brazil’s business environment.

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Founded in 2017, The Brazilian Report is an English-language media outlet uniquely positioned to provide an insider’s view of current affairs in Brazil and Latin America, with a mission to make Latin Americans’ voices heard and become the reference for Latin American news worldwide. An award-winning newsroom, The Brazilian Report has just received recognition for its portfolio of newsletters at this year’s Wan Ifra Awards.

Within 6 years of existence, The Brazilian Report has gained international recognition. It has become the go-to source for several embassies, think tanks, and international news outlets, including Time Magazine, CNBC, BBC Worldwide, Vox, Axios, Radio France, CGTN, among others.