I don't believe this president at all. It has gone through one of the most pumpy bubbles in history and he has no clue about what Bitcoin is?
What I'm thinking is that he tries to play Bitcoin down by pretending to not know what it is.
The president of Brazil is not a forward thinking person. With a population that size they should be competing with China but they are just a bunch of economic n00bs who will go no-where except the beach.
Based on what should they compete with China? China is one of the most active investors in Brazil and pretty much any other country in that region.