The Story of Pix – A Glimpse Into The Future Of Instant Payments In The US.
Imagine getting a utility bill emailed to your inbox and being able to pay it instantly by putting your phone to your computer screen and scanning a QR code. Or getting $100 sent to your mobile phone by a friend and having access to the funds immediately to pay for dinner that night. Brazilians don’t have to imagine these things. They’ve been living like this for the past 2 years thanks to Pix.
Pix is an instant payment scheme developed, managed, operated and owned by the Central Bank of Brazil. In 2018, they mandated that all banks be able to offer instant payments – why? In short, to modernize their economy. In 2019, 77% of retail transactions in Brazil were cash. Merchant fees for debit and credit were high, and, for credit, the funds weren’t available for up to 30 days. So, there was a big opportunity to design a new payment scheme from scratch. Nearly 30% of consumers in Brazil were unbanked – the Central Bank of Brazil also saw this as a way to include
them.
Pix launched in Nov 2020 to instant success.
Over 40 countries have some form of instant payments. None achieved the quick adoption of Pix. 18 months after launch nearly 120 million consumers, 70% of the Brazilian adult population, had either made or received a Pix transaction, and 60% of all businesses were using Pix. Within one year, the number of Pix transactions exceeded debit and credit transactions.
There are now over 2B Pix transactions every month.
Via Matera