U.S. targets Brazilian digital payment platform Pix amid trade spat(restofworld.org)
restofworld.org
U.S. targets Brazilian digital payment platform Pix amid trade spat
https://restofworld.org/2025/pix-brazil-us-investigation-digital-payments/
9 comments
The play here for Brazil is likely a nationalism story to stoke rejection of US payment systems and Big Tech by consumers. That should poison the well for some time for US companies trying to make inroads against Pix.
> “With Pix, I don’t have to carry cards or worry about losing them,” Neves da Luz said. At one point, she considered using Samsung Pay but eventually decided against it. “I feel more comfortable supporting a national system rather than a foreign one.”
> “With Pix, I don’t have to carry cards or worry about losing them,” Neves da Luz said. At one point, she considered using Samsung Pay but eventually decided against it. “I feel more comfortable supporting a national system rather than a foreign one.”
IMO better play is going directly to merchants. Pix has cheaper fees than many other payment methods.
Would you happen to know why merchants accepting credit card rails today are not yet on Pix? Or not dropping credit card rails support (if Pix is supported)? Credit functionality of credit cards?
From wikipedia:
Pix is an instant payment platform created and managed by the monetary authority of Brazil, the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB).[1] It enables instantaneous payments and transfers in Brazilian real, even outside banking hours or on weekends, with no fees.
Pix was announced in February 2019 and became fully operational on 16 November 2020. It rapidly became the main payment system in the country; by July 2024, Pix transactions had reached almost R$2.5 trillion per month, with more than 70% of the country (over 150 million people) actively using it.
It seems like it is not available outside Brazil and their currency, but is wildly successful (70% adoption in 4 years) and anecdotally on other forum discussions I've heard the people like it.
Also from the article itself
"Pix reached 63.8 billion transactions in 2024 — a 52% increase from the previous year, according to a recent survey by the Brazilian Federation of Banks. Pix overtook debit card transactions in January 2022 and credit cards in February 2022; it now dwarfs transactions via credit cards, debit cards, bank slips, wire transfers, prepaid cards, and checks combined."
It seems like a smashing success, and maybe Visa and Mastercard are trying to pressure the government of the USA to get them back on their rails (that they collect fees on for usage.)
Pix is an instant payment platform created and managed by the monetary authority of Brazil, the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB).[1] It enables instantaneous payments and transfers in Brazilian real, even outside banking hours or on weekends, with no fees.
Pix was announced in February 2019 and became fully operational on 16 November 2020. It rapidly became the main payment system in the country; by July 2024, Pix transactions had reached almost R$2.5 trillion per month, with more than 70% of the country (over 150 million people) actively using it.
It seems like it is not available outside Brazil and their currency, but is wildly successful (70% adoption in 4 years) and anecdotally on other forum discussions I've heard the people like it.
Also from the article itself
"Pix reached 63.8 billion transactions in 2024 — a 52% increase from the previous year, according to a recent survey by the Brazilian Federation of Banks. Pix overtook debit card transactions in January 2022 and credit cards in February 2022; it now dwarfs transactions via credit cards, debit cards, bank slips, wire transfers, prepaid cards, and checks combined."
It seems like a smashing success, and maybe Visa and Mastercard are trying to pressure the government of the USA to get them back on their rails (that they collect fees on for usage.)
Paying in installments is cultural (buy now, pay later, auto financed in 12 months).
Pix will add this in the next months.
I bought my Nintendo Switch 2 in 10x monthly payments, but I already paid back to the back and they gave me back the interest and some cashback as well.
So there's a lot of flexibility by using Credit Cards currently.
Also the idea of cashbacks and travel "miles" is widespread among the middle and upper middle class.
But for instance I'm getting some good deals where is better to get a discount on the nominal price than getting the cashback and so on.
It depends on the merchant.
The smaller merchants are definitely the bigg winners, since they don't have so much leverage negotiating card fees with banks.
But at least here in my city, smaller sellers and shops are still not managing properly, they ask you to show a receipt that can be forged, instead of asking their banks how to confirm transactions instantly from their side (yes they do have products for that where they pay a bit more, but still nowhere near the credit card fees).
So the usual. Merchants and business owners without a vision wants the employees to check all transactions, but don't provide adequate tools.
In some transactions it ends up taking more time because the merchant is still uneducated on how to properly confirm the transactions, then I just ask to switch to credit card.
Pix will add this in the next months.
I bought my Nintendo Switch 2 in 10x monthly payments, but I already paid back to the back and they gave me back the interest and some cashback as well.
So there's a lot of flexibility by using Credit Cards currently.
Also the idea of cashbacks and travel "miles" is widespread among the middle and upper middle class.
But for instance I'm getting some good deals where is better to get a discount on the nominal price than getting the cashback and so on.
It depends on the merchant.
The smaller merchants are definitely the bigg winners, since they don't have so much leverage negotiating card fees with banks.
But at least here in my city, smaller sellers and shops are still not managing properly, they ask you to show a receipt that can be forged, instead of asking their banks how to confirm transactions instantly from their side (yes they do have products for that where they pay a bit more, but still nowhere near the credit card fees).
So the usual. Merchants and business owners without a vision wants the employees to check all transactions, but don't provide adequate tools.
In some transactions it ends up taking more time because the merchant is still uneducated on how to properly confirm the transactions, then I just ask to switch to credit card.
> But for instance I'm getting some good deals where is better to get a discount on the nominal price than getting the cashback and so on.
Getting a discounted cash price is almost always the better option. They always offer "installments, zero interest" deals which make no economic sense.
If they don't offer a discount, the best option is to max out the zero interest installments on the credit card. Interest rates are 15% per year right now, if they don't offer at least 15% discount it's better to pay in 12 installments and invest the money.
Getting a discounted cash price is almost always the better option. They always offer "installments, zero interest" deals which make no economic sense.
If they don't offer a discount, the best option is to max out the zero interest installments on the credit card. Interest rates are 15% per year right now, if they don't offer at least 15% discount it's better to pay in 12 installments and invest the money.
Pix is similar to cash and completely replaces debit cards.
Credit cards are a completely different story. They allow floating one's expenses and paying it off all at once on a monthly basis. They allow paying in installments which is normal in Brazil. They transfer at least some responsibility for fraud to the credit card companies. They give assorted benefits and cashback. Since they are credit lines, they also enable leveraging: people can buy things they want or need now and pay it off in the future bit by bit while investing the money that they would have spent. The debt is partially inflated away while the invested money generates some returns.
A credit form of Pix is allegedly coming but has not materialized yet.
Credit cards are a completely different story. They allow floating one's expenses and paying it off all at once on a monthly basis. They allow paying in installments which is normal in Brazil. They transfer at least some responsibility for fraud to the credit card companies. They give assorted benefits and cashback. Since they are credit lines, they also enable leveraging: people can buy things they want or need now and pay it off in the future bit by bit while investing the money that they would have spent. The debt is partially inflated away while the invested money generates some returns.
A credit form of Pix is allegedly coming but has not materialized yet.
Too many people still using credit cards. In person, credit cards are slightly easier to use than Pix. But online lots of people are preferring Pix for being faster and safer (just read a QR Code in place of giving your card details to someone).
The US Chamber of Commerce’s US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) sent a letter to Pakistan stating [1]
> The proposed tax would be similar to digital services taxes (DSTs) in France and the United Kingdom, which the United States Trade Representative has found to be discriminatory against US companies, inconsistent with established principles of international taxing jurisdiction, and burdensome on US commerce... The act would not only disproportionately harm US companies and American digital exports but also undermine the robust US-Pakistan trading relationship at a critical juncture.
The result of this masked threat is that Pakistan removed the tax for all foreign companies [1].
[1] https://www.dawn.com/news/1927776/digital-proceeds-tax-to-no...