A mini-battle between Brazilian crypto exchanges and major banks in the country may slowly be coming to an end.

Banco do Brasil, and Santander Brasil was through a preliminary court injunction ordered to reopen bank accounts which were held by the local crypto exchange, Bitcoin Max.

The Federal District Court ruled that the banks have failed to notify Bitcoin Max before closing their bank account, an action which is described as “abusive conduct” and against consumer protection laws in the country.

Failure to heed the court injunction in less than five days would result in a 5,000 Brazilian reals (about $1,300) fine for Santander Brasil, and Banco do Brasil — up to 20,000 Brazilian reals (about $5,400).

Local news source, Portal do Bitcoin, have confirmed that the banks have reopened the accounts following the court injunction. However, Banco do Brasil is believed to still hold Bitcoin Max’s Funds worth 120,000 Brazilian reals ($32,400) which the court injunction ordered to be returned within 24 hours. 

The preliminary ruling will likely bring back the crypto exchange activities to normal and maybe the first crypto news that we will hear from the South American nation this month.

Brazilian Banks Vs Crypto Exchanges

As Coinfomania reported in September, there is an ongoing case between major Brazilian Banks and crypto exchanges operating within.

Brazil’s antitrust regulator, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), had investigated six banks including Banco do Brasil and Santander Brasil. This was with regards to an application made by the crypto exchanges that the banks had locked their accounts without any prior notice.

Subsequently, ten banks received a questionnaire from the regulators who required that they provide information regarding how their business operates in Brazil and also whether they were unable to open bank accounts or just locked out.

Mid-October was the deadline for exchanges to submit the questionnaire to the regulators while more development on the case is expected to unfold in the coming days or weeks.

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