The Trump administration has designated two of Brazil's most powerful criminal organizations — Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) — as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). The move, announced Wednesday, targets groups that have increasingly turned to digital currencies to wash proceeds from their sprawling drug trafficking operations.
What the designation means
The SDGT label freezes any U.S.-based assets belonging to the groups and makes it a crime for American citizens or companies to do business with them. It also allows U.S. law enforcement to track and disrupt the financial networks these gangs have built across borders. Both CV and PCC have long operated drug routes that move cocaine from South America to Europe and Africa, with some shipments reaching the United States.
The crypto connection
Investigators have documented how both organizations use digital currency as a money laundering tool. The gangs move illicit funds through cryptocurrency exchanges, peer-to-peer platforms, and sometimes their own private wallets, making it harder for authorities to follow the money. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the groups exploit gaps in global crypto regulation to finance their operations and expand their territorial control.
CV and PCC are not new to the radar of international law enforcement. But the SDGT designation — typically reserved for groups like al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Hezbollah — signals a shift in how the U.S. views organized crime that harnesses decentralized finance. It also opens the door for the U.S. to impose sanctions on any foreign bank or exchange that knowingly handles money for the gangs.
Why now
U.S. officials said the timing reflects the growing sophistication of the Brazilian cartels' financial networks. In recent years, both CV and PCC have moved beyond street-level drug sales into wholesale trafficking, often using cryptocurrency to pay suppliers in Colombia and Bolivia or to settle debts with European buyers. The State Department noted that the groups have also used crypto to buy weapons and bribe officials.
The designation came with little public fanfare — a brief notice in the Federal Register and a short Treasury statement. Brazil has not yet formally commented, though the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro has cooperated with the U.S. on anti-drug operations in the past.
What comes next
Federal prosecutors in Miami and New York have already begun reviewing cases that involve CV or PCC-linked crypto wallets. The next step could be indictments against individual leaders or the banks that have moved money for them. A Treasury official said the department expects to release a list of specific digital wallet addresses tied to the groups within weeks, giving exchanges a clear target for compliance.
