Brazil’s Central Bank Expands Drex CBDC Pilot with 13 New Use Cases

The Central Bank of Brazil has announced 13 new use cases for the second phase of its Drex central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot. These were chosen out of 46 proposals from 16 consortiums, each with a different functionality of making government and financial services more efficient.

The use cases include utilizing innovative tokenization for real estate, creating trading venues for government bonds, financing international commerce, and even selling self-driving cars. This step underlines Brazil’s desire to experiment with its own CBDC and see how it can help optimize different government operations.

Some of the key players that are involved in this next phase of the Drex pilot include Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil’s stock exchange B3, Santander, Tecban, XP-Visa, Banco do Brazil, Bradesco, Itau, Banco Inter, Nubank, and the Brazilian Association of Banks.

Second Phase of Drex Pilot Focuses on Privacy and Performance Testing

Bruno Grossi, manager of emerging technologies at Banco Inter, pointed out that testing these new use cases within the Drex blockchain environment is critical. He also noted that the use cases must meet the privacy requirements to protect the users’ data. “Each of the use cases will be exercised by everyone present here,” Grossi said, adding that involvement in collaboration will always be appreciated.

This second phase is relevant because all participants may use many of these new platforms to assess their performance, which will likely alter the process of financial transactions in Brazil.

The first phase of the Drex pilot experienced challenges, including the Central Bank of Brazil extending the timeline for the completion of the project to 2025. Privacy issues were cited as the main reason for the delay. They had been caused by the fact that the solutions implemented during the first phase did not reach the required level of security to protect users’ information. However, the bank insists it will continue to ensure that these new platforms adhere to all the legal and privacy concerns as it embarks on its next phase.