Brazil Suspends Pro-Bitcoin Candidate Renan Santos's Campaign, Freezes R$3.3M Fund
Brazil's top electoral court, the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE), suspended presidential candidate Renan Santos's digital campaign and froze R$3.3 million (roughly $640,000 USD) in public funds on August 31, weeks after he became the only contender to publicly back a national Bitcoin reserve.
Justice Dias Toffoli barred Santos and running mate Aroldo Medina from debates and ruled that 16 campaign social media profiles, declared 12 days after the campaign's registration filing, cannot carry paid political ads.
The Bitcoin pledge behind the ruling
Santos, 42, made the Bitcoin reserve pledge on August 13 at Blockchain Rio 2026. He also promised to make Rio de Janeiro "crypto friendly" and to scrap the Tax on Financial Operations (IOF). He called Brazil's crypto rules outdated and overly centralized.
The pitch puts him in company with Bukele's Bitcoin-reserve model in El Salvador and Milei's crypto embrace in Argentina. It also echoes Colombia's recent election of a pro-crypto president, part of a broader rightward, crypto-friendly shift across Latin America.
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