Brazil's DREX Digital Currency: How It Works and What Changes in 2025
Brazil's central bank is developing DREX, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that represents the Brazilian Real in a programmable digital format with a 1:1 parity, backed by sovereign guarantee. Unlike Pix, which handles everyday payments, DREX is designed to settle complex financial operations — such as real estate, government bonds, and receivables — instantly and atomically using smart contracts. The system runs on a two-layer architecture built on Hyperledger Besu, with a wholesale layer for interbank settlement and a retail layer of tokenized deposits accessible through bank-issued digital wallets. A pilot involving over 16 financial institutions has already tested tokenized Selic Treasury bonds, achieving settlement in seconds for transactions that currently take one to two days. Expected practical benefits include lower credit costs, programmable collateral, asset fractionalization, and reduced reliance on intermediaries such as notary offices.
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