Brazil’s Central Bank Says Nation Might Be Ready for a Digital Currency by 2022

Brazil’s chief central banker, Roberto Campos Neto, said Wednesday that his country could be ready for a digital currency (CBDC) by 2022.

• By that time, the Banco Central president said, Brazil will have an interoperable instant payments system and a “credible” and “convertible” international currency – “all the ingredients to have a digital currency,” he said at a Bloomberg event covered by local outlet Correio Braziliense.
• Campos Neto also was reported to have said that CBDCs are the consequence of fast-digitizing financial systems such as Brazil’s. Banco Central is rolling out its PIX instant payments system in November and launching an Open Banking initiative later this year.
• The comments place some context around Banco Central’s late August move to create a working group to begin studying CBDC issuance. That group’s final report should be ready within six months to a year, he said Wednesday.