Banco do Brasil announced the launch of a payment function via instant transfer system Pix for Brazilian citizens staying in Argentina. The new service allows users to pay in Argentine stores directly through a banking app with automatic currency conversion.
Banco do Brasil (BB), together with Argentina’s Banco Patagonia, launched cross-border payments via Pix, which previously operated only within Brazil’s domestic market. Now any Pix user, regardless of whether they’re a Banco do Brasil client, can pay for purchases in Argentina by scanning QR codes at participating retail locations. This was reported by Reuters.
The new function allows Brazilians in Argentina to pay for goods in real time. The buyer sees the charge in Brazilian reais, while the merchant receives funds in Argentine pesos. Currency conversion and tax calculations are handled by BB, while the final amount is shown to the customer before confirming the transaction.
Sistema de Pagamentos Instantâneos (SPI), the national instant payment system better known as Pix, was created by Banco do Brasil. It operates 24/7 and is free for individuals. Around 900 financial institutions are connected to the system, and the number of users exceeds 170 million people. It’s the most popular cashless payment method in the country.
According to Felipe Prince, VP for Internal Controls and Risk Management at BB, launching Pix abroad strengthens the international direction of Banco do Brasil’s business and is part of its global strategy. Argentina became the first stage of this expansion. In the future, the bank is considering implementing the service in other countries in the Americas, as well as in Europe and Asia, primarily where large Brazilian diasporas live.
The expansion of Pix into the Argentine market comes amid the active digitalization of the country’s financial sector and growing use of cryptocurrency infrastructure. According to a Lemon report, in 2025, Argentina ranked second in Latin America by the volume of received crypto transactions, which exceeded $93.9 billion, with annual growth of around 3%. At the same time, the country leads the region in the number of active users of crypto applications per capita — 12% of the population uses cryptocurrencies, accounting for more than a quarter of all activity in Latin America.
A particularly notable example is the integration of Argentine FinTech companies with Brazil’s Pix system. According to the report, in 2025, Argentina recorded 5.4 million downloads of crypto apps, with more than 90% of them belonging to wallets that implemented Pix-based payments in Brazil. The peak in downloads occurred in January 2025 and exceeded the previous maximum by over 80%.
Thus, the launch of Pix in Argentina by Banco do Brasil fits into a broader trend — the integration of instant payment systems and alternative payment tools into the region’s everyday economy.
For millions of Brazilians who regularly visit Argentina, the new feature removes the need for currency exchange, international cards, or opening local accounts, enabling direct payments through the familiar Pix infrastructure, which in 2025 also integrated cryptocurrency payment solutions such as Binance Pay and KuCoin Pay.
