In brief: Brazilian central bank makes Pix open source

Brazil's central bank has put the communication protocols behind its Pix payment system on open source status, Governor Roberto Campos Neto said on 11 November, so that any central bank that wants to can copy them, free of charge.

Pix is a payment system that allows instant, free and immediate payments. It was launched in 2020 by the Central Bank of Brazil and, as of July 2022, more than 478 million passwords were registered on Pix. The system has been widely adopted in the country due to its simplicity and 24/7 availability.

The functionality went live on 31 October 2022. For the time being, however, the Central Bank has only released the payment initiation for PIX transactions.

The institution would be the first in the world to offer this option.