The largest local cryptocurrency exchange, Mercado Bitcoin, has been granted permission by Brazil’s central bank to take part in the pilot program for the digital real, the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC).
According to the local daily Valor, partners in the group headed by Mercado Bitcoin include Mastercard, broker Genial, registrant Cerc, and financial software fintech Sinqia.
Additionally recently, the central bank authorized participation in its CBDC trial by state-owned Brazilian bank Caixa, card supplier Elo, and Microsoft
Mercado Bitcoin had been excluded from the central bank’s selection of 14 members in late May because the consortium lacked at least one regulated banking or payment institution with direct access to Brazil’s national financial network. After Mercado Bitcoin got the license as a payment facility from the central bank on June 2, that situation altered.
Fabricio Tota, director of new business at Mercado Bitcoin, said, “Our participation validates the Central Bank’s intention to bring innovation to the financial system with those who have already been working with this technology and not just with the incumbents who have appropriated it,” Valor added.
“We are grateful to have been chosen as a member of the partnership for the Real Digital pilot in Brazil. Walter Pimenta, executive vice president of Products and Engineering at Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean, stated that the company “continues to engage in a series of partnerships to build trust and compliance in the digital assets ecosystem while also addressing real-world issues.
Meanwhile, the central bank will start integrating participants into the Real Digital Pilot platform. According to Glovo, the consortium plans to take part in testing the issuance of CBDC and Treasury notes and will work to evaluate technical facets of the network and the distributed ledger technology’s governance architecture.
The central bank intends to introduce the CBDC by 2024 because it sees a digital currency as a method to boost participation in the financial system.