RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Last week Brazil’s Central Bank created a program to assess the use and capacity to execute projects with a digital Brazilian real. Tests with specific groups would be conducted until the end of 2022.
The virtual currency is expected to reduce the price of creating customized loan agreements and facilitate international payments, allowing purchases in other countries to be made with immediate conversion.
The new digital currency is likely to take longer than the PIX to reach the public, as the Central Bank will have to set up a complete financial environment to make it work within consumer security and data protection standards.
It is known that the virtual currency will look like the printed real and can be stored in financial institutions’ digital wallets.
According to the report, it is not yet known what technology will be used, but it is likely that the “digital real” will be made through blockchain, the same platform used in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The difference is that the new real would be under Central Bank control, working as a Brazilian currency equivalent to the traditional real (R$), while cryptocurrencies have an unstable value.