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Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

(www.economist.com)
666 points jcartw | 2 comments | 08 Apr 25 10:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.588s | source
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afarah1 ◴[08 Apr 25 11:57 UTC] No.43620640[source]▶
WhatsApp is omnipresent for communication in Brazil, and WhatsApp Pay was ready before Pix, but the government blocked the launch to launch Pix first.[1] I rarely see this mentioned.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/brazil-suspends-w...

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paintbox ◴[08 Apr 25 12:15 UTC] No.43620799[source]▶
It's a question of national security not to let Meta eat that cake, and Brasil made the right choice.

Tangentially related, I've heard talk of EU alternative to VISA and Mastercard, which I also believe is the right direction.

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afarah1 ◴[08 Apr 25 12:30 UTC] No.43620945[source]▶
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.
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1. thisissomething ◴[08 Apr 25 12:59 UTC] No.43621247[source]▶
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.
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2. vitorgrs ◴[09 Apr 25 01:49 UTC] No.43628194[source]▶
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)