Visa, Microsoft and others join Brazilian CBDC pilot
Both national and global companies will participate in the upcoming Brazilian central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project. Banco Central do Brasil, the country’s central bank, will begin adding participants to the digital real platform around the middle of June 2023.
On May 24, the central bank published the final list of CBDC pilot participants. Participants were chosen from a pool of 36 bids made by single companies and consortia, “totaling more than 100 institutions”. The final number of participants is 14; however, some represent groups of companies. For example, the United States-based tech giant, Microsoft; Brazil-based bank, Banco Inter; and the digital technology company, 7COMm, comprise one of the 14 participants.