Back in 2020, if you lived in Brazil and wanted to buy Bitcoin with your real money-no PayPal, no foreign bank transfers-you might have heard of Negocie Coins. It promised fast trades, local currency support, and simple access to crypto. But by the end of that year, the platform vanished. No warning. No notice. Just silence. Today, it’s listed as a scam by major crypto watchdogs. Here’s what really happened.

What Was Negocie Coins?

Negocie Coins was a Brazilian crypto exchange founded by Grupo Bitcoin Banco (GBB). It launched with one clear goal: let Brazilians trade Bitcoin and other crypto directly in Brazilian Real (BRL). No need to convert USD or deal with international exchanges that didn’t support BRL. That made it appealing to everyday users who just wanted to buy crypto without jumping through hoops.

It offered only four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), and Litecoin (LTC). No Ethereum. No Solana. No altcoins. Just the Bitcoin family. That’s it. For users who only cared about BTC, that was fine. But if you wanted to diversify-even slightly-you were out of luck.

Deposits and withdrawals? Only BRL. No crypto deposits allowed. You couldn’t send Bitcoin from your wallet to trade on Negocie Coins. You had to buy in with cash, via bank transfer. And to get a Premium account (which gave higher limits), you needed to deposit at least BRL 30,000 or 50 BTC. That’s over $6,000 USD at today’s rates. Not exactly beginner-friendly.

Security and Features

On paper, Negocie Coins had the basics: SSL encryption and two-factor authentication (2FA). Nothing fancy, but enough for a small exchange. No cold storage details were ever made public. No proof of reserves. No transparency reports. And that’s where things started to unravel.

One major red flag? No trading volume data. Not on CoinMarketCap. Not on CoinGecko. Not anywhere. As of March 2020, Cryptowisser pointed out this was a huge problem. Legit exchanges report volume. It’s how users know there’s liquidity-how they know they can buy or sell without the price crashing. Negocie Coins didn’t. And that’s not just poor practice-it’s a sign something’s wrong.

The platform also didn’t allow coin-to-coin trading. You couldn’t swap BTC for LTC directly. You had to sell BTC for BRL, then buy LTC with that BRL. Two transactions. Two fees. Slower. More expensive. That’s a dealbreaker for anyone who trades regularly.

How It Compared to Other Brazilian Exchanges

Brazil had-and still has-plenty of crypto exchanges. MercadoBitcoin, BitcoinTrade, NovaDAX, Foxbit, FlowBTC. Most of them offered more than four coins. MercadoBitcoin had over 15 in 2020. Foxbit only did BTC/BRL, so Negocie Coins had a slight edge there. But not enough to matter.

Negocie Coins’ only real advantage was its focus on BRL. If you were a Brazilian who didn’t want to deal with foreign exchanges, it looked like the easiest option. But that advantage disappeared fast when you realized how limited the selection was and how little transparency they offered.

And here’s the kicker: while other Brazilian exchanges were growing, adding new coins and improving their apps, Negocie Coins stayed frozen. No updates. No new features. No marketing. Just silence.

The Shutdown: A Classic Scam Pattern

On December 27, 2020, Cryptowisser updated its database: “It is no longer possible to access this exchange. Accordingly, we have marked the exchange as a scam.”

That was it. The website went dark. The support emails bounced. Social media accounts vanished. No one ever explained why.

This is a textbook scam pattern: build trust with a simple, localized service. Attract users with the promise of easy BRL access. Let them deposit money. Then, when enough funds are in, disappear. No warning. No refund. No trace.

Some sites still list Negocie Coins today-like Revain.org or FXStay-but those posts are either outdated or written by SEO farms trying to rank for old keywords. FXStay’s 2025 review? That year hasn’t even happened yet. The article is clearly fake. The platform hasn’t operated since 2020.

User Reviews: Too Few to Trust

You might see a 4.3/5 rating on Cryptogeek. Nine reviews. That’s not enough. It’s like judging a restaurant based on two Yelp comments. And those reviews? No names. No details. No proof. Just stars.

Compare that to MercadoBitcoin or BitcoinTrade, which have hundreds of verified user reviews on Trustpilot, Reddit, and local forums. People talk about their experiences-good and bad. With Negocie Coins? Nothing. No deep dives. No forum threads. No complaints after the shutdown because there was no one left to complain.

One Revain.org comment said: “Pros: Acknowledges cash.” That’s it. That’s the entire positive feedback. No one said, “I made a profit,” or “Customer service helped me.” Just “they accepted my money.” That’s not a review. That’s a survival tactic.

Why It Failed

Negocie Coins wasn’t a bad idea. Brazil’s crypto market was booming in 2020, with $80 billion in transactions. There was real demand. But the execution was terrible.

- Limited crypto selection: Only 4 coins. No Ethereum. No growth.

- No transparency: Zero trading volume data. No public audits.

- No liquidity: If you wanted to sell 10 BTC, you’d have to find a buyer. No order book depth.

- High entry barrier: BRL 30,000 for a Premium account? That’s not for retail users.

- No updates: No app improvements. No new features. No communication.

It was a house built on sand. Once users realized they couldn’t trust the platform-or worse, couldn’t access their funds-it collapsed.

What You Should Learn From This

If you’re looking at any crypto exchange today, ask yourself:

• Is trading volume listed on CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko?
• Does it support more than 10 coins?
• Can I deposit crypto from my wallet?
• Are there real user reviews with names and details?
• Has the company been around for more than 3 years?

If the answer to any of those is no-walk away. Negocie Coins looked safe because it was local, simple, and focused on BRL. But safety isn’t about convenience. It’s about transparency, liquidity, and longevity.

Today, Brazilian users have better options: MercadoBitcoin, Bitso, and BitcoinTrade all offer BRL, dozens of coins, mobile apps, and verified track records. You don’t need to gamble on a ghost platform.

Final Verdict

Negocie Coins was never a reliable exchange. It was a short-term play that exploited a gap in the market-then vanished when it had enough money. Its shutdown wasn’t an accident. It was the endgame.

If you’re Brazilian and want to trade crypto in BRL, use a platform that’s still operating. One that’s transparent. One that you can trust. Don’t chase convenience over safety. The cost is too high.