Brazil's beloved instant payment system faces scrutiny from the Trump
administration
[May 14, 2026] By
MAURICIO SAVARESE
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil is a politically divided country, but there's
one thing that those on all sides of the political spectrum love: PIX,
the country's instant payment system that allows users to pay for
everything, from ice cream on the beach to clothes in a shopping mall
and even a car.
Unlike payment apps run by private banks, PIX is governed Brazil's
Central Bank. Its massive popularity drove $7 trillion in transactions
last year, though now it faces scrutiny from the U.S. government over
claims of unfair trade practices for bypassing traditional credit
networks like Visa and Mastercard.
“The best (payment method) is PIX, the most used,” said Luis Felipe de
Almeida, a 21-year-old vendor of iced tea and cassava starch biscuits on
Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro. “No one walks around with cash anymore,
everyone just uses their phone, so they use PIX.”
US claims unfair competition
Launched in 2020, PIX allows anyone with a Brazilian individual taxpayer
identification, registered companies or government entities to transfer
funds in real time. The only requirement is a Brazilian bank account.
PIX also works with QR codes. Individuals pay zero fees for PIX
transfers, and while some banks charge companies a fee for transactions,
they are significantly lower than regular bank transfers in Brazil,
which could also take hours to be completed.
In July, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) of U.S.
President Donald Trump opened an inquiry into PIX, alleging it imposes
unfair competition to U.S. credit card operators because it offers an
alternative to transaction fees.
India has a similar payment system which is not being challenged by USTR,
despite processing $300 billion in payments just in March. Similarly, it
has no transaction fees.
PIX risks
Middle-class Brazilians use PIX for everything, for small payments and
large purchases.
Marcello Palladini, a 57-year-old restaurant owner in Sao Paulo, uses
PIX mostly to pay suppliers for transactions above 1,000 Brazilian reais
($200), since many wouldn't take credit cards for that kind of payment
anyway. Still, he said most of his clients still prefer to pay him for
lunch with credit cards or meal vouchers, though.
“When I want something quickly, I pay with PIX and it comes right away.
I also do PIX with some suppliers who keep a tab and at the end of the
month they send me a full bill,” Palladini said.
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A sign offers payment via Pix, a free payment system, at a store in
Rio de Janeiro, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
 He criticized the unfair manner some
banks charge companies transaction fees, but overall is a PIX fan.
“PIX works great, it is all instant,” he said.
Many large corporations in Brazil use PIX to pay their workers.
Houses, cars and even helicopters can be bought through the same
system — though hefty sums often have to get a bank approval first.
Despite its success, PIX is not without flaws. Criminal networks
realized they could exploit the system by stealing phones and
transferring tens of thousands of Brazilian reais instantly, leaving
Brazil's police, banks and insurance companies struggling to contain
the rapid movement of stolen funds.
Brazilian authorities and companies are tracking and often closing
bank accounts that are involved in suspicious transactions and
putting caps on PIX transfers from 8 p.m. until the next morning, so
fraudsters can't move big sums at once as most clients are not
paying attention to messages on their phones flagging a transaction
has been made in their account.
The Brazilian Forum of Public Security, a think-tank, estimates
between 24 million and 28 million people were hit by PIX-related
crimes between January and September of last year, although they
don't have an estimate of how much was lost.
“From the technical and legal standpoint, PIX is safe. But it is not
immune to fraud because its risks are not in its technology; they
are in people trying to fool others,” said Ana Paula Siqueira, an
expert on Brazil's digital law. “The most common fraud involves
psychological manipulation, fake IDs, urgent requests for payment.”
Still, those risks have not stopped 178 million of Brazil’s 213
million residents from registering for PIX.
“Love doesn't happen suddenly, it takes time,” shouted Claudia
Quirino, a vendor of Brazilian dumplings at an open-air market in
the Sao Paulo region of Pinheiros. “But PIX is instant! Buy now!”
___
AP journalists Lucas Dumphreys, Mario Lobao in Rio de Janeiro and
Vineeta Deepak in New Delhi contributed to this report.
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