The Central Bank of Brazil is developing a "synthetic" central bank digital currency (CBDC) called Drex, previously known as the digital real. In the development process, the bank aims to incorporate elements of decentralized finance (DeFi) and address the "trilemma" of decentralization, privacy, and programmability, which traditional markets have long faced.
The President of the Central Bank of Brazil, Roberto Campos Neto, noted that the goal of the project is to create a multidimensional digital currency that integrates tokenization into bank balances. In his presentation on October 3, he emphasized that Brazil plans to accelerate its tokenization efforts through the Open Finance platform, which will allow users to choose between different banks and payment methods, including the CBDC.
Additionally, the second phase of the Drex pilot project is focused on digital asset transactions, such as liquidity pools for government bonds and international trade finance. This phase will last until 2025.
Private cryptocurrency companies are also continuing to expand opportunities for digital payments in Brazil. For example, on October 3, Ripple announced a partnership with the Mercado Bitcoin exchange to launch cross-border cryptocurrency payments.
