Brazilian Crypto Exchanges Subpoenaed in Security Inquiry Amid Recent Hacking Scandal

As it evolves into one of the world's leading hubs for cryptocurrency exchanges, Brazil's government is taking questionable action to investigate potential money laundering usage.

A number of cryptocurrency exchanges have received a 14-question subpoena in the past two weeks and were ordered to file responses within five days, according to local publication Portal do Bitcoin.

Responses were varied, with some compliant in answering the entire inquiry and others claiming to avoid the prosecutor's demands, as the request isn't an "Official document of justice."

The questionnaire includes inquiries into compliance rules for customers, cash deposit limits in relation to declared income, and what measures are being taken to mitigate risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing.

It goes on to ask companies to divulge their respective number of employees, whether or not exchanges trade coins for anonymity, and how many accounts an individual may possess for deposits, transfers and withdrawals.

Batti then concludes the inquiry by assuring exchanges their responses will be part of a confidential file with no fiscal character.

The inquiry preceded a recent hacking of Brazilian cryptocurrency exchanges, where the private information of more than 264,000 users was exposed, including email addresses, phone numbers and account-related information.

On the YouTube channel Digital Investment, it was reported that nearly 15,000 the 264,000 accounts hacked featured information on funds belonging to users of the Brazilian-based exchange, Atlas.

"We became aware early on Saturday night that a security incident involving the leakage of data from our customers occurred. We are conducting an investigation with our information security advisor to understand the incident in more detail and will cooperate with the appropriate authorities."

After being revealed as the largest Bitcoin holder at 792 BTC, Atlas said the data breach was thoroughly investigated and users' digital assets remain protected.