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Stablecoins account for 90% of crypto use in Brazil — Central bank chief

Stablecoins dominate cryptocurrency transactions in Brazil, according to Gabriel Galipolo, the president of the Central Bank of Brazil. 

Speaking at a Bank for International Settlements event in Mexico City, Galipolo said digital asset use in Brazil has surged in the last three years, according to a report by Reuters. Galipolo said 90% of crypto use in the country can be linked to stablecoins. 

Galipolo highlighted the regulatory and oversight challenges presented by widespread use of stablecoins in payments, particularly around taxation and money laundering.

Central bank chief says Brazil’s Drex is not a CBDC

In the report, the official also claimed that the country’s Drex digital currency project is not a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Instead, Drex is being developed as an infrastructure project aimed at improving credit accessibility through collateralized assets, Galipolo said.

He said Drex will use distributed ledger technology to settle wholesale interbank transactions. The official added that retail access will be based on tokenized bank deposits. 

On Oct. 14, 2024, Brazil’s central bank said that it’s testing the capabilities of Drex to be integrated with tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi). The bank also said it was testing Drex’s interactions with other networks.