Visa and Microsoft join forces for Brazilian CBDC pilot project
The Brazilian central bank’s digital currency (CBDC) pilot project is set to attract the participation of both national and global companies.
Banco Central do Brazil, the country’s central bank, has announced its plan to onboard participants onto the digital real platform starting in mid-June 2023.
The participant list
On May 24, the Central Bank of Brazil (BC) unveiled the list of selected participants for the Real Digital Pilot. The BC received an overwhelming response, with 36 proposals expressing interest in taking part in the Piloto RD. These submissions included both individual applications and consortia of entities, representing a staggering number of over 100 institutions from diverse financial sectors.
Among the 14 selected parties are Visa, Mastercard and other Brazilian banking institutions, including Itaú Unibanco, BTG Pactual.
The official announcement of the Brazilian CBDC pilot took place in 2022, unveiling key details of the project. The digital real, the country’s central bank digital currency, will be pegged to the national fiat currency, the real. It will have a fixed supply and will be gradually minted over time.
Fabio Araujo, the project coordinator for the bank’s CBDC initiative, has revealed that the goal is for the CBDC to be widely adopted by the general population by the end of 2024.
No stranger to cryptocurrencies
With a population of 214 million, the largest country in Latin America is no stranger to the world of cryptocurrency and has actually explored the development of regulations.
In February, the Ministério Público Federal (MPF) confirmed that it is actively formulating provisions to facilitate the legal process of confiscating these digital assets. Earlier in January, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, unveiled a partnership with MasterCard.
As Brazil continues to embrace cryptocurrencies and explore regulatory frameworks, the announcement of Visa and Mastercard joining forces with the Brazilian CBDC project serves as a testament to the country’s growing importance in the global crypto landscape.
