This is hands down one of the best instant payment platforms at the moment. Only India's UPI can match it in features, and China and Thailand in adoption. Most Western countries have had a (somewhat timid) taste of instant payments, but most don't know what it means to just drop credit and debit cards and cash altogether for a system that is not just universally adopted (from apps to flea markets to online payments and subscriptions), but preferred by merchants and consumers alike.
Obviously credit cards give you credit, if that's what you want/need, maybe a postponement until your monthly statement is closed, or chargebacks and maybe insurance, but CCs should be an exception, not the norm they are now, with a bunch of embedded costs we all pay for, one way or another.
It's time for all of us that travel to have 2 pins: the regular one, and a second one that notifies the issuer that the transaction happens at gunpoint, in which case the amount that can be taken is drastically reduced.
Last week Trump targeted Pix and Brazil for discriminating against Mastercard and Visa[0]. Also last week there was the Steam debacle involving the same two companies which brought attention to the power that this duopoly holds all across the world. In Brazil many people, if not the majority use interest free instalments to pay for anything above groceries - “parcelas”, all of which, until now, were done through Mastercard & Visa. So this is yet another blow to these companies and perhaps accelerated by Trump’s threats.
It also highlights how desperately the EU is behind other countries in this space, with the news of the dependence on Azure and their aims to decouple from the US.
It’s a nice apt story for what’s being going on this last week.
I wonder what the total value to the Brazilian economy is to keep Visa/MasterCard's cut of so many transactions in Brazil instead of being siphoned offshore.
In a sense, Trump's rant against Pix is promoting it to the world. Moreover, some stores in Portugal and more recently France are accepting Pix as form of payment.
Pix is great now - one concern is that it needs to be nimble enough to evolve as the country does. If it is still meeting the needs of Brazil & Brazilians in 10+ years time that will be an even greater triumph.
Meanwhile to the Brazilian people, congratulations & enjoy being world leaders in payments!
This is such good news. The amount of value extracted of the brazillian people from outlandish interest rates from credit cards is unbelievable and this will free all of us from it.
I believe the greatest story behind Brazil's Pix, India's UPI and Kenya's Mpesa is the emergence of a lot new forms of money.
We will have strong national currencies supported by these payment systems, destroying Visa and Mastercard and hurting PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. These systems have a lot more potential than most people imagine (e.g.: micro lending , even for illiterate people).
We will have "gangster money", a.k.a. crypto currencies, to sustain illegal activities. There is no other use case for crypto, only this.
And we will probably have "economic blocs" money (e.g.: whatever thing the BRICS come up with).
In this scenario I'd hope for a big change in the international payments system.
The dollar will not have one rival, will have many. I hope it dies by a thousand cuts.
When I first moved to LatAm, the cashiers always asked how many "cuotas" I wanted to pay. I was initially confused and realized it meant I could take a (interest free?) loan to pay for my purchases in installments.
I never understood how this was common in high interest countries in LatAm, but unheard of in the USA.
Does anyone know? Like actually know, not speculating.
Brazil central bank to launch Pix installment feature in September
(reuters.com)132 points by CXSHNGCB 21 July 2025 | 166 comments
Comments
Obviously credit cards give you credit, if that's what you want/need, maybe a postponement until your monthly statement is closed, or chargebacks and maybe insurance, but CCs should be an exception, not the norm they are now, with a bunch of embedded costs we all pay for, one way or another.
It also highlights how desperately the EU is behind other countries in this space, with the news of the dependence on Azure and their aims to decouple from the US.
It’s a nice apt story for what’s being going on this last week.
[0] https://www.ft.com/content/e17e6de1-d863-46f8-bfab-fa8cbfc49...
Meanwhile to the Brazilian people, congratulations & enjoy being world leaders in payments!
There were reports that Apple doesn't want to implement on Apple Pay...
We will have strong national currencies supported by these payment systems, destroying Visa and Mastercard and hurting PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. These systems have a lot more potential than most people imagine (e.g.: micro lending , even for illiterate people).
We will have "gangster money", a.k.a. crypto currencies, to sustain illegal activities. There is no other use case for crypto, only this.
And we will probably have "economic blocs" money (e.g.: whatever thing the BRICS come up with).
In this scenario I'd hope for a big change in the international payments system.
The dollar will not have one rival, will have many. I hope it dies by a thousand cuts.
I never understood how this was common in high interest countries in LatAm, but unheard of in the USA.
Does anyone know? Like actually know, not speculating.
Ave Brasil