PANews reported on April 1 that according to Cryptoslate, a Brazilian court has approved the use of NFTs to notify unidentified defendants in a case involving missing Bitcoins related to BWA Brazil, a company suspected of pyramid selling. The decision stems from a legal action filed by a court-appointed trustee of the BWA Brazil bankruptcy estate, who attempted to interrupt the statute of limitations for claims related to crypto assets allegedly obtained using creditor funds. The bankruptcy estate requested the court to allow the legal process to be served digitally by minting NFTs containing relevant legal documents and sending them to the wallet address involved in the initial transaction.
In addition, the prosecutor's office also filed a favorable opinion in support of the trustee's request. The measure targets digital asset holders whose identities are unknown but whose wallet addresses can be traced through the Bitcoin blockchain. The bankruptcy estate claims that about 11,200 BTC were obtained using creditor funds. At current prices, 11,200 Bitcoins are worth more than $900 million. According to the lawsuit, these transactions occurred before the bankruptcy and may now face recovery proceedings.
BWA Brazil, founded in 2017 by Paulo Roberto Ramos Bilibio, froze withdrawals in early 2020, resulting in customer losses estimated at 300 million reais (about $52.2 million). Authorities estimated that this was one of the largest losses in Brazil related to an alleged cryptocurrency pyramid scheme. In July 2020, a Brazilian court approved BWA's application for judicial reorganization, saying it would repay customers. However, less than a year later, another court order changed the proceedings from judicial reorganization to bankruptcy, saying the company had not made any efforts to repay customers.
