Brazil’s central bank, Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), is working on a new instant payment platform, to compete with the growing popularity of the cryptocurrency sector. According to a recent press release, the platform will be launched in November.
The new system is dubbed the Brazilian Instant Payment Scheme (PIX) and will support all transactions, whether personal or business. It will allow peer-to-peer and business-to-business transactions.
The BCB says that PIX will settle transactions in a maximum of ten seconds and users can initiate these payments whether using a mobile phone, via internet banking, or ATMs designated for the service.
A Brazilian media company says that the central bank’s president Roberto Campos expressed that PIX was created because of cryptocurrencies. According to the publication, Campos said that people need a payment platform that is very affordable, very fast, and also very secure. He said PIX was created to have the same features digital assets as Bitcoin have.
The BCB’s announcement also states that all financial institutions under the bank’s jurisdiction with over 500,000 customer accounts are mandated to join PIX. It says that transactions can be initiated using a QR Code or using the personal information of a user such as a phone number, email, or tax ID.
Sweden recently announced that it has begun a pilot test for its own CBDC. However, the BCB’s option is not a digital currency.
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