The president of the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) announced that the central bank digital currency pilot (CBDC) would be launched in the second half of 2022.
During an event hosted by TradersClub (TC), BCB President Roberto Campos Neto commented on the country’s plans to launch a CBDC. He mentioned that the pilot project would be launched in the second half of 2022.
However, Campos Neto noted that the pilot version of the digital real would not be available to the entire population. According to the president, the CBDC will be a digital version of the national currency and, therefore, its value will be pegged to the national fiat payment system STR (Reserve Transfer System). Neto confirmed that the digital real would have a fixed issue.
Neto also stressed that crypto is becoming more popular as an investment tool rather than a payment option. Therefore, one of the goals is to study smart contracts and decentralized financing mechanisms based on the Central Bank. Nevertheless, Neto said that things might change as the acceptance of cryptocurrencies increases.
As a reminder, the BCB chose the cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin and DeFi protocols Aave and ConsenSys to develop the digital real concept. Visa and Microsoft are technical partners of the project. The Brazilian government plans to fully launch the financial instrument in 2024.
