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Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

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666 points jcartw | 7 comments | 08 Apr 25 10:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.596s | source | bottom
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SwiftyBug ◴[08 Apr 25 11:48 UTC] No.43620583[source]▶
I've been living in Brazil for the last 20 years.

Pix revolutionised the way we transact in Brazil. I've used Pix to pay for things that cost only cents, and I have a friend who bought her house using Pix. The system just works for any transfer amount. And it's so easy to use.

Its speed is truly baffling, and so is its reliability. Never have I failed to make a Pix payment because of downtime. I never cease to be amazed by how fast money arrives in my Brazilian account when I make a withdrawal directly from my EUR wallet on Wise. I receive a push notification from my Brazilian bank before Wise finishes running the animation of confirmation of withdrawal. It's like magic.

And it's so widespread that nowadays I don't even question whether someone accepts Pix. When I get in a taxi, no matter how old the driver is, it's certain that they take (and prefer) Pix.

I've even had homeless people ask me for Pix instead of change on multiple occasions.

Cryptocurrencies don't stand a chance.

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earnesti ◴[08 Apr 25 12:17 UTC] No.43620818[source]▶
Can you elaborate on the technicals? Is it a phone app? Does it work through QR codes or NFC? Is there a Pix "card"?
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1. lucasoshiro ◴[08 Apr 25 14:44 UTC] No.43622383[source]▶
Pix is basically a commercial name for two services:

- SPI: responsible for the payments

- DICT: responsible for mapping keys to accounts

The API documentation of those services are available, but only banks can use them. When a person wants to send money to another, there's an option in the bank app for sending through Pix.

Then you have many options to define to whom you'll send that money:

- typing the bank account information

- using the Pix key (which can be an phone, email, CPF/CNPJ (brazillian documents) or a generated key)

- scanning a QR code

Note that the two latter options don't require the account information. That resolution is done by DICT.

After that, you type how much you'll send (sometimes the QR code already contains this information). Then it'll send through SPI.

And yeah, it's really, really fast.

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2. xeromal ◴[09 Apr 25 02:22 UTC] No.43628352[source]▶
This sounds really cool. Is there a verification step where you confirm that the right number or identifier was entered for the first payment to someone? That's always one of my biggest concerns and I don't want to enter a number twice as the verification.
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3. leonidasv ◴[09 Apr 25 02:44 UTC] No.43628434[source]▶
The UX is standardized by the Central Bank and they mandate a step showing the name of the person/company associated with that Pix key before you make the payment. So you can always double-check.
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4. xeromal ◴[09 Apr 25 03:21 UTC] No.43628602{3}[source]▶
That's exactly what I was looking for. That sounds great
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5. lucasoshiro ◴[09 Apr 25 04:07 UTC] No.43628799{4}[source]▶
You can see how it works in this video, after 3:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvz0Yiss4Go. It's in portuguese, but I think you will understand how the interface works.

Note that it is from a bank app (Nubank), Pix itself is not an app. Other banks have similar interfaces

6. extraduder_ire ◴[09 Apr 25 14:42 UTC] No.43632702{3}[source]▶
Does the format for the ID have a check digit in it? Like IBANs and credit card numbers can both be checked offline by an algorithm to tell you that you've made a typo.

From my reading, the system seems like it's intended to be used with a connected device and scanned/copypasted rather than typed or read over the phone.

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7. leonidasv ◴[10 Apr 25 00:14 UTC] No.43639353{4}[source]▶
The CPF (persons) and CNPJ (companies) numbers has two check digits.