Launching payments in Brazil: the stack

By Polynopsis team · Last updated 28 October 2026

Paying out in Brazil means crediting reais to the recipient's deposit or prepaid payment account through an institution the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) authorises for FX or eFX, with Pix, which runs 24 hours a day, every day, as the instant rail and STR/TED for business-day transfers. Cross-border payment companies build on payout partners such as dLocal, EBANX, Nium and Thunes or an FX bank such as Ebury Bank, price against the BCB's PTAX reference rate, verify people and companies through Serpro Datavalid, Truora or Verifik, and read accounts through Open Finance aggregators such as Belvo and Pluggy.

Currency	BRL
Local payout rails	Pix, STR (Sistema de Transferencia de Reservas) and TED
Holiday calendar	Brazil bank holidays 2026 and 2027
Corridor playbooks	USD to BRL

The Brazil market

Brazil received US$4,227 million in personal transfers in 2025, against US$4,247 million in 2024, in the Banco Central do Brasil balance of payments series (SGS 22846). source
Personal transfers received from January to September 2026 totalled US$3,268 million, 7.2% more than the US$3,047 million received in the same months of 2025 (BCB series SGS 22846). source
The World Bank puts Brazil's personal remittances received at US$4,758 million in 2025 (World Development Indicators, updated 8 October 2026). source
More than 150 million individuals used Pix in September 2026, a month in which Pix carried more than 7.8 billion transactions worth more than R$3.8 trillion. source
Pix set its single-day record of 318,116,744 transactions on 4 September 2026. source
Only financial institutions and other institutions authorised by the BCB can take part in Open Finance Brasil, and the largest Brazilian banks are mandatory participants. source

Licensing: who can pay out in Brazil

Resolution BCB 561 of 30 April 2026, in force from 1 October 2026, lets banks, Caixa Economica Federal, development agencies, credit, financing and investment companies, securities brokerage and distribution companies, FX brokers, and BCB-authorised payment institutions that issue e-money or post-paid instruments or act as acquirers provide eFX (international payment or transfer services), whether or not they hold FX authorisation. source
An institution can start providing eFX five business days after adding the service to the BCB's Unicad register, and authorised institutions already providing it were given until 30 October 2026 to register; other eFX providers can continue only if they apply by 31 May 2027 for authorisation as a payment institution (e-money issuer, post-paid instrument issuer or acquirer), and must stop within 30 days if they do not apply or are refused. source
Under Resolution BCB 561, payments between an eFX provider and its foreign counterparty must go only through an FX operation or a non-resident real account held in Brazil, virtual assets cannot be used for that leg, and the provider must have a contract with the foreign counterparty and apply know-your-customer procedures to it. source
Resolutions BCB 519, 520 and 521, in force since 2 February 2026, create BCB-authorised virtual asset service providers (SPSAVs) and treat international payments or transfers made with virtual assets as FX market operations. source
Bitso runs its Brazilian real operations through Nvio Brasil Instituicao de Pagamento Ltda., a payment institution regulated by the BCB. source

This page explains the rules in general terms and is not legal or regulatory advice. Check the primary source and take advice on how the rules apply to your firm.

Payout rails in Brazil

Rail	Operator	What matters for payouts	Source
Pix	Banco Central do Brasil	Instant payment system created by the BCB that moves money between current, savings and prepaid accounts in seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; free for individuals and low cost for companies.	source
STR (Sistema de Transferencia de Reservas) and TED	Banco Central do Brasil	Business days only, Brasilia time: STR interbank transfers 06:30 to 18:30 and customer transfers (TED) 06:30 to 17:30. On 24 December (when a business day) STR interbank closes at 13:00 and TED at 12:30; on the last business day of the year they close at 13:00 and 12:00. Not available on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.	source

The Brazil payments stack, layer by layer

The providers below are a starting shortlist for each layer, described from their own documentation. Confirm terms, coverage and licences with each provider.

Payout and collection partners

Provider	What it does in Brazil	Source
dLocal · our guide	Supports payouts in Brazil in BRL via bank transfers and Pix transfers, with B2B parameters and full CPF validation of beneficiaries.	source
EBANX	Pays out in Brazil by Pix (published SLA under 2 minutes), Mercado Pago (under 2 minutes) and TED bank transfer (up to 3 days), to bank details or a Pix key.	source
Nium · our guide	Pays BRL to bank accounts at all banks in Brazil and by proxy payout, listed as instant with real-time, 24x7 availability.	source
Thunes · our guide	Connects businesses to Pix, bank accounts and mobile wallets in Brazil through its Direct Global Network, to send and collect funds in real time.	source

Local banking and settlement accounts

Provider	What it does in Brazil	Source
Ebury Bank (Ebury Banco de Cambio S.A.)	BCB-authorised FX bank offering FX as a Service APIs for international payments with settlement in Brazil, plus white-label exchange, mass payments and local payment processing for digital businesses.	source
Celcoin	Financial infrastructure provider offering banking as a service, a settlement bank (banco liquidante) service, white-label cards and data sharing, and handling the regulatory side for client businesses.	source

Stablecoin ramps and exchanges

Provider	What it does in Brazil	Source
Bitso Business (BRL1)	Offers BRL1, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the real on Polygon: whitelisted partners deposit reais by Pix to mint it, request RFQ quotes for BRL1 pairs, and burn it to have reais credited to their bank account.	source
Transfero	Provides ramps, swaps, custody, liquidity and payment flows between BRL and digital assets, with access to Brazilian banking rails including local accounts and Pix.	source

FX and liquidity

Provider	What it does in Brazil	Source
PTAX reference rate (Banco Central do Brasil)	Reference rate built from four BCB polls of FX dealers, taken at random times within 10:00 to 10:10, 11:00 to 11:10, 12:00 to 12:10 and 13:00 to 13:10 Brasilia time and published in four bulletins.	source
eFX FX leg (Resolution BCB 561)	The foreign leg of an eFX flow settles only through an FX operation or a non-resident real account; an eFX provider without a BCB reserve or settlement account must receive and deliver reais through a single-purpose account at an FX-authorised institution.	source
Ebury Bank	Offers FX solutions and APIs for international transactions with settlement in Brazil and control over exchange rate volatility.	source

KYC and KYB providers

Provider	What it does in Brazil	Source
Serpro Datavalid	Serpro's identity validation service; version 5 (June 2026) combines facial biometrics, registration data, fingerprints and CNH QR code checks in one request, and Serpro reports almost 2 billion validations to date.	source
Truora	Background check API whose person checks cover Brazil (country code BR) along with Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Costa Rica; company checks cover Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.	source
Verifik	Business verification API that checks a Brazilian company's name and CNPJ against official records.	source

Bank data and open banking

Provider	What it does in Brazil	Source
Belvo	Open Finance Data Aggregation for Brazil: owner, account, balance, transaction, card bill and investment data from the Open Finance network under user consent, with the last 12 months retrieved when a link is created.	source
Pluggy	One API to more than 220 Brazilian financial institutions for balances, statements, cards, investments and identity in one schema; states that it is regulated by the BCB as a payment initiation provider (ITP).	source

Funding and prefunding BRL payouts

Pix pays out on weekends and holidays, but STR and TED run only on business days (STR interbank 06:30 to 18:30 Brasilia time), so reais moved through STR for weekend payouts have to arrive before Friday's close. source
STR closes early at year end: on 24 December (when a business day) interbank transfers close at 13:00 and TED at 12:30, and on the last business day of the year at 13:00 and 12:00. source
An eFX provider without a BCB reserve or settlement account must receive reais from senders and deliver reais to recipients only through a single-purpose account at an FX-authorised institution, and it cannot net reais received against reais delivered. source
From 1 October 2026 the eFX settlement leg with the foreign counterparty cannot use virtual assets and cannot be netted, so the foreign side has to be funded through an FX operation or a non-resident real account. source
Personal transfers peaked in December in 2025 (US$437.2 million, against a low of US$304.4 million in February); the highest month so far in 2026 is March (US$411.6 million). source

Size the prefund to your runway target with the corridor runway calculator and the Brazil holiday calendar.

Launch checklist

Plan: launch volume, the prefund sized to your runway target including weekends and holidays, the contracting entity and the funding route.
Open accounts: shortlist payout partners and a local banking route from the layers above, and prepare the onboarding pack.
Set up: read access to every new balance, a runway target with alerts, and the corridor in your daily reports.
Go live: the first prefund and a test payout, then daily monitoring.

Polynopsis turns this into one plan with named approvals, then shows every Brazil partner, bank and wallet in one live position. See how a corridor launch works.

Frequently asked questions

Can BRL payouts run on weekends and holidays?

Yes, over Pix, which runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. STR and TED run only on business days (STR interbank 06:30 to 18:30 Brasilia time), so reais that move through STR for weekend payouts have to arrive before Friday's close.

Who can provide eFX in Brazil from October 2026?

Under Resolution BCB 561, banks, Caixa, development agencies, credit and investment companies, securities brokers and dealers, FX brokers, and payment institutions authorised as e-money issuers, post-paid instrument issuers or acquirers. They can start five business days after registering the service in Unicad. Other providers must apply for payment institution authorisation by 31 May 2027 to continue.

Can stablecoins settle the cross-border leg?

Not the eFX leg: since 1 October 2026 payments between an eFX provider and its foreign counterparty must go through an FX operation or a non-resident real account, with virtual assets prohibited. Since 2 February 2026, international payments made with virtual assets count as FX market operations under Resolution BCB 521.

Which reference rate applies to BRL?

PTAX, the average of four BCB polls of FX dealers taken in ten-minute windows starting at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and 13:00 Brasilia time.

How large are remittance inflows to Brazil?

The BCB records US$4,227 million of personal transfers received in 2025 and US$3,268 million from January to September 2026, 7.2% more than a year earlier. The World Bank puts 2025 personal remittances at US$4,758 million.

How do I read Brazilian account balances?

Through Open Finance Brasil, where only BCB-authorised institutions take part and the largest banks are mandatory participants. Aggregators such as Belvo and Pluggy expose balances and transactions through one API.

Other markets

Sources

Know where all your money is.

Polynopsis gives cross-border payment teams one live position across every bank, payout partner, exchange and wallet, including money in flight, and warns before a corridor runs dry.

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