This paper analyses the impacts of the innovation known as distributed ledger technology (DLT) on the monetary system and on financial activities. Private cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are permissionless means of payment, based on blockchain, a form of DLT. Evaluations suggested that these private cryptocurrencies could compete with the banks payment systems and even supplant state currency. The development of these technologies has the potential to modify profoundly monetary and financial practices, but there are no indications that they may threaten the centrality of state money and the banking system in the contemporary monetary order. Major international banks have developed cryptocurrencies for settlement systems and for interbank transactions, including the so-called stablecoins, issued by highly technological companies with on par conversion into state money. Some central banks are studying the launch of state cryptocurrencies that could coexist with their fiduciary state currency and even replace their paper currency. The use of this technology results in new challenges for regulation, including the fact that cryptocurrencies can be used for money laundering and by organized crime.

The paper aims to understand Brazilian position in relation to Asia and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), based on a review of the bibliography and journalistic articles on Brazil-Asia subject and an observance of official data of the Brazilian economy. Since Dilma Rousseff until Michel Temer’s government, Brazil has facing a troubled political and economic scenario, which negatively impacts on its diplomacy. Although Brazil reaffirmed its commitment with global strategic partnership with China in terms of trade flows, the lack of Brazilian participation on issues of global political nature directly impacts on the way in which Brasilia moved its attention to the BRI and to the Asian affairs. The ambitious proportions and objectives of the BRI summed to the rise of a nationalist economic policy of the United States indicate a deepening of several movements that have been changing the international balance of power, which can offer opportunities for Brazil, by means of a cohesive long-term policy for Asia and in a multifaceted way beyond trade.