How the Central Bank of Brazil built Pix, powering 6 billion monthly transactions

Lex chats with Harish Natarajan - Practice Manager, Financial
Inclusion and Infrastructure, Finance, Competitiveness &
Innovation at the World Bank, and Carlos Brandt - The Senior
Advisor for Pix at the Central Bank of Brazil. Together they
discuss the remarkable success of Pix, Brazil's real-time payment
system, which now sees over 6 billion transactions per month and
is used by more than 90% of the adult population and 80% of
companies. Lex explores how Pix was created by the Central Bank
of Brazil with strong public-private collaboration, backed by
regulatory authority and supported by a co-creation model with
stakeholders. Key to its adoption were a low-cost centralized
infrastructure, clear branding, mandatory participation by large
banks, and a robust national communication strategy. Globally,
Pix is seen as a leading example of fast payment system
deployment, driven by the central bank acting as a neutral
coordinator and scheme owner. Lex also examines the technical
architecture, built in-house by a surprisingly small team of
55–65 people, and how scalable infrastructure and extensibility
have enabled rapid growth and innovation.


 


NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:


 


1. Pix achieved mass adoption through public-private co-creation
and legal mandate:


Pix now processes over 6 billion transactions per month, with 90%
of Brazil’s adult population and 80% of businesses actively using
it. Its success stems from a strategic legal mandate in 2013
granting the Central Bank regulatory and operational authority
over retail payments. The Central Bank then led a co-creation
process involving both public and private stakeholders through
the Pix Forum, fostering alignment, inclusivity, and strong
network effects.


2. A lean but powerful team built a nation-scale real-time
payments system:


The Pix infrastructure was built entirely in-house by a
relatively small team, 30-40 people for the technical
infrastructure layer and around 25 for the payment scheme layer.
It operates 24/7 with real-time settlement and uses centralized
infrastructure separate from Brazil’s traditional large-value
payment rails. This centralized, purpose-built architecture
dramatically lowered costs and enabled rapid rollout.


3. Strategic communication and mandated participation drove
adoption at scale:


The Central Bank led a national communication campaign to build
trust, establish a strong brand identity, and educate the public.
Simultaneously, it mandated major banks (with over 500,000 active
accounts) to join Pix, triggering widespread voluntary adoption
from smaller PSPs. The rollout included a restricted pilot phase
and emphasized user-friendly features like QR codes and aliases
to boost convenience and usage from day one.


 


TOPICS


 


Pix, Central Bank of Brazil, World Bank, Visa, Citibank, M-Pesa,
Alipay, SPI, fintech, payments, PSP, API, Fast Payments, Payments
Infrastructure, PayTech


 


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TIMESTAMPS


 


1’19: Building Pix from the Ground Up: Carlos Brandt on
Modernizing Brazil’s Payment Infrastructure


 


3’03: Fast Payments for Financial Inclusion: Harish Natarajan on
the World Bank’s Role in Modern Payment Infrastructure


 


4’29: From Cash to 5 Billion Transactions a Month: How Pix
Transformed Brazil’s Payment Ecosystem Through Public-Private
Collaboration


 


10’41: Why Pix Succeeded Where Others Struggled: The Power of
Neutral Coordination and Public-Private Synergy


 


12’40: Inside the Pix Forum: How Brazil Built a Collaborative
Process for Payment Innovation


 


15’07: Fast Payments at Scale: Market Coordination,
Infrastructure, and Global Lessons from Pix


 


20’55: Engineering Pix: How a Small Team Built Brazil’s 24/7
National Payments Infrastructure from Scratch


 


27’28: Driving Nationwide Adoption: How Strategic Communication
and Mandates Powered Pix’s Rollout Across Brazil


 


34’14: Scaling for Success: Why Communication, Extensibility, and
API Design Are Key to Evolving Payment Systems


 


37’23: Building Trust Through Cooperation: How Regulators Can
Foster Innovation While Balancing Public and Private Interests


 


40’06: The channels used to connect with Carlos & learn more
about The Central Bank of Brazil.


 


40’39: The channels used to connect with Harish & learn more
about The World Bank


Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment
advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH
BLUEPRINT LTD.


Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella


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