Photo: Central Bank.
The Central Bank on Monday announced that Brazil’s official digital currency will be named Drex, replacing the provisional name ‘Digital Real’. No deadline was given for the launch of the digital currency.
Drex “will provide a safe and regulated environment for the creation of new businesses, and more democratic access to the benefits of a digitized economy for citizens and entrepreneurs,” the Central Bank said in a statement.
The ‘d’ and ‘r’ in Drex are a reference to ‘digital Real’, the ‘e’ is a nod to ‘electronic’, while the ‘x’ is a reference to Pix, Brazil’s instant payment system.
Aristides Cavalcante, chief of CyberSecurity and Technological Innovation at the Central Bank, said in a live broadcast that Drex will make financial products and services cheaper. Private assets sold currently for a minimum value of BRL 1,000 (USD 204), for example, could be easily fragmented into smaller BRL 10 or BRL 5 tokenized deposits, “making investments much more affordable” to the general public.
“With the growing trend towards the digitalization of our society, it is important to coordinate the market development process, guaranteeing an environment that is not fragmented and that offers security for entrepreneurs and consumers,” the Central Bank says in a FAQ section on its website.
Drex will be fully convertible into cash and conventional bank deposits.
The Ibre-FGV GDP monitor, a tool to predict economic activity in Brazil, suggests that the…
The floods in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed nearly 150…
Home to the largest tropical forest in the world, an energy mix that is high…
The northeastern Brazilian state of Piauí isn’t among the country’s richest or most populous states…
Rio Grande do Sul Lieutenant-Governor Gabriel Souza said the state government is considering relocating entire…
“We’ve got no idea what the next vintage is going to look like. A lot…