Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

WhatsApp Pay is available today in Brazil. The official reason for blocking the launch was missing paperwork, but word on the street at the time was that it was to favor Pix. This is all mentioned in the Retuers article. The reasons for favoring Pix are left for one to speculate. You say national security, the other says financial surveillance and control over the population. Time will tell.

I'd much rather let the Central Bank handle my instant payments, than Meta.

Financial surveillance would happen either way. It’s either from your government or to a foreign company, bundled and sold en mass.

So do most Brazilians, as today that choice is available. It's interesting how being the first to launch contributed to that preference, regardless of the widespread usage of WhatsApp. There are other interesting factors to consider. For example, a lot of people had WhatsApp but no bank account. As mentioned in The Economist's article there have been changes to the banking sector brought by Pix as well. Anyway, an interesting case study, and that's why I mentioned it.

In this case, maybe. But it's not the only option. The old payment system was a bit more private, as payments went through commercial banks and one needed a court order to access transaction history. According to The Economists' article the instant payment system in other countries adopts a similar scheme, which is more private than Brazil's, and which could have been adopted here too. Also, there exists technology today enabling private micro-transactions, such as Monero. But governments - including Brazil's - prevent exchanges to offer it. Europe is no different.[1] One may argue this prevents abuse, which may be true, but it also prevents financial privacy.

[1] https://support.kraken.com/hc/en-us/articles/support-for-mon...

With everything that Pix offers but WhatsApp Pay doesn't, I don't think WhatsApp Pay would hold a candle even if it were launched before.

Why? Your own government can do a whole lot more to you than a foreign corporation.

Well, I can vote so that the thing my government does to me is something I want.

The foreign corporation will always be exclusively interested in doing things to me that generate revenue for them.

> Well, I can vote so that the thing my government does to me is something I want.

You better hope that your interests closely align with those of millions of your compatriots.

And that no one with political power has a personal vendetta against you.

>You better hope that your interests closely align with those of millions of your compatriots.

corporation NEVER has my interests in mind, so coordinating millions is easier

>And that no one with political power has a personal vendetta against you.

same argument can be used with corporations

Control over the population? That's some conspiracy theory.

Those points are true, but a private corporation can't take away my life, liberty, or property under the threat of violence.

Yeah, there was already alternatives before pix, like PicPay/Mercado Pago, and Pix just "killed" them (people still use to be clear, but just as a normal payment app)

Nothing stops the government from blocking your Pix transactions on a whim. They can just turn off your money whenever they want. They can confiscate your money any time if they want. They can do pretty much anything.

Conspiracy theory? It's cyberpunk stuff, the likes of which we see in fiction. Only it's not fiction. We're watching the whole thing unfold right before our very eyes.

I remember watching videos of people at events from many years ago. They warned us all about this stuff, explored all the possible consequences. It's pretty bleak. And now I'm living in this reality, the knowledge of the danger weighs down on me every day where I have to use the system. And people like you come here and calls us conspiracy theorists.

They could have always done it at your bank as well. Easy electronic transfer changes nothing in that regard.

> [the government can] take away my life, liberty, or property under the threat of violence.

I do not envy your life situation if this is something that you have to genuinely worry about.

They have done it before. The difference is you can withdraw your cash if you see it coming. The government's end game is to get rid of physical cash with Pix and soon Drex.

Without physical cash, your finances are one hundred percent controlled by the government. Sure, it's convenient, but you pay for that convenience with your freedom.

Blackwater?

Yup, my comment was directed at those who want to prevent electronic money. But it’s no different than earlier banking.

I support cash and gold as well.