BRAZIL’S PIX PAYMENT SYSTEM OUTPERFORMS VISA & MASTERCARD

Written by Michael Thervil

BRAZIL’S PIX PAYMENT SYSTEM OUTPERFORMS VISA & MASTERCARD

[Brazil Pix Visa Mastercard] Pix, the Brazilian government's instant payment system is giving  American financial institutions like Visa, Zelle, and MasterCard a run for their money when it comes to processing consumer based digital payments. While Visa and MasterCard merchant fees range anywhere from 1.13% to 2.34% with settlement time that range anywhere from 2-28 days, in Brazil Pix seems like the logistical solution to not only accelerate consumer-based transactions, but Pix appears to be the best way for Brazil and its citizens to propel their economy forward. Unlike Visa and MasterCard, Pix is free to obtain and use and has significantly lower merchant fees than both MasterCard and Visa which currently stand at 0.33%. Also, instead of having a processing time of 2-28 days, Pix has a consistent processing time of 3 seconds.

With Pix available for all Brazilians regardless of income level, it’s quickly becoming the pretext for many Brazilians who have never opened a bank account before to open one so that they can take advantage of this highly efficient and economical payment system. It was reported that last month more than 129.9 million people registered to utilize Pix which is nearly a third of the U.S. population. Pix which were launched during the COVID-19 era (2020) is now utilized by more than 93% of all Brazilians and of that 93%, 62% embrace it as their primary payment method. With that, Pix has surpassed both Visa and MasterCard  usage in Brazil.

Despite the national success of Pix, American credit card networks and financial tech companies are enraged over the declining use of their products in Brazil, so much so that the USTR (United States Trade Representative) decided to launch an investigation into the Brazilian government for unfair trade practices. Its reasoning for launching their investigation was because the Brazilian government through its Pix payment processing platform “may harm the competitiveness of American companies”. All of this comes at a time as President Trump’s 50% tariff on Brazilian goods and products come into effect which started August 1^st.

OUR POSITION AT VEDA WORLD NEWS

Whatever happened to the right of every government to exercise its national sovereignty within its borders. If  the government of Brazil deems it necessary for it to create, develop, and implement its own commercial payment processing system, then it reserves the right to do so. But for the American government, whether or not Brazil decides to exercise its right to flex its national sovereignty via Pix, isn’t the issue. The issue for America is that it's losing its controlling grip on the Brazilian financial sector.

With Pix, it’s easy for the government to allow let’s say a country like Russia to open a bank account. If and when this occurs, if it hasn't already occurred, there's no way for the American government to track the movement of money between the two countries via shell companies based in Brazil. with the effective bypassing of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication “SWIFT” global payment system; it not only allows for Brazil's economic system to grow unchecked by America, but it also  allows Brazil to bypass the threat and weaponized application of American led sanctions against its financial system while securing the future of  Brazil's economic freedom.