Dollar-pegged stablecoins already account for around 90% of crypto transaction volume in Brazil, with most used for payments and settlement, according to tax authority data.
Brazil processes between $6 billion and $8 billion in crypto each month, most of it using dollar-denominated stablecoins instead of the country’s own currency.
However, even as dollar stablecoins have proliferated, Brazil’s central bank has decided to limit its role in regulated cross-border payments. Resolution 561, which took effect on October 1, is expected to ban payment companies from settling cross-border payments in stablecoins or other cryptocurrencies, effectively closing a main channel that had routed reais via dollar tokens. The central bank has presented stablecoins as a threat to monetary sovereignty, tax enforcement and anti-money laundering controls.
Pix now faces pressure from both sides after Washington labeled it a trade barrier, while Brazilian regulators protect it from growing competition from dollar-backed stablecoins.
Pix, however, may not compete with stablecoins.
“In practice, they are complementary,” Rodrigo Caggiano, founder of Brazilian real-world asset monitoring platform RWA Monitor, told CoinDesk. “Pix has handled domestic instant payments well, while stablecoins expand possibilities by operating on blockchain networks.”
U.S. pressure is likely to accelerate Brazil’s regulatory debate over stablecoins and digital financial infrastructure, Caggiano said, as the central bank builds its own token settlement system, Drex, on similar programmable rails.
