Pix: Brazil’s most important instant mobile payment method
Pix celebrated its fifth anniversary on Sunday (Nov. 16) as the country’s main payment method. Launched by the Central Bank of Brazil in 2020, the digital payment method handled BRL 26.4 trillion last year. This is equivalent to almost twice the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024.
This year, according to the Central Bank, transactions via Pix totaled BRL 28 trillion through October.
The Central Bank’s director of financial system organization and resolution, Renato Gomes, said in an online broadcast that the platform has helped bring more people into the banking system.
“On the one hand, there was a reduction in the cost of distributing money. On the other hand, there was, let’s say, an increase in the number of customers and in customer consumption. And, naturally, as Pix brought a great deal of competition to the payment system, fees ended up being reduced,” he said.
Pix was initially created to facilitate transactions between individuals through instant transfers. Over time, new features were added, such as Pix cobrança, which functions like a bank payment slip, and Pix automático, which is equivalent to automatic debit.
Recent data show that 170 million adults and more than 20 million companies use Pix.
Brazilian technology
Discussions on creating the payment method that would later gain widespread use in Brazil officially began in 2016, and the Central Bank released its fundamental requirements in 2018. In August 2019, the bank announced that it had developed the database and taken over the administration of the instant payment system, which was named Pix in February 2020.
Pix was launched on a trial basis on November 3, 2020, for between one and five percent of bank customers and at specific times. The official launch, with twenty-four-hour operation and available to all customers who created Pix keys, took place two weeks later, on November 16, 2020.
Trump’s target
In the context of measures taken by the United States government to pressure former President Jair Bolsonaro over an attempted coup after the 2022 elections, the payment method developed by Brazilian civil servants became the target of an American trade investigation.
The Trump administration launched the investigation, arguing that Pix could harm American financial companies. In an official response sent to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Brazil stated that Pix is designed to ensure the security of the financial system without discriminating against foreign companies.
*Based on information from Agência Brasil.
