Brazil announces pilot for digital currency seeking to leverage financial services
Brazil’s central bank announced the start of a digital currency pilot project on Monday, aiming to replicate the success of its instant payment system Pix to popularize financial services in the country.
According to Fabio Araujo, coordinator of the initiative at the bank, the public use of the digital currency should begin at the end of 2024, after the completion of the testing phase – which will include buying and selling of federal public bonds among individuals – and its subsequent evaluation.
Araujo said the “digital real” will be built as a means of payment executed on distributed ledger technology (DLT), to support the provision of retail financial services settled through tokenized deposits in institutions of the financial and payment systems in Brazil.
Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Leslie Adler via Reuters