What is PIX and How It Works
PIX is Brazil’s instant payment system created and operated by the Central Bank of Brazil. It allows individuals, companies, and government entities to make and receive payments in real time, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Transfers through PIX are completed within seconds and can be made using a variety of identifiers instead of traditional banking details. To make a PIX payment, a user only needs one piece of information about the recipient—such as an email address, mobile number, or a unique “PIX Key”—instead of the recipient’s bank account number, branch code, and CPF or CNPJ. PIX operates through the Sistema de Pagamentos Instantâneos (SPI), which is the infrastructure that processes and settles these transactions instantly between participating institutions.
Statistics & Market Data
PIX has revolutionized Brazil’s payment landscape by offering instant, low-cost, and universally accessible transfers. Understanding its operational structure and the meaning of these statistical indicators is essential for analyzing its role in financial inclusion, market competition, and the evolution of digital payments in Latin America’s largest economy.
PIX Keys (Chaves PIX)
A Chave PIX is a unique identifier linked to a user’s bank or payment account. It simplifies the process of receiving payments. Instead of providing full account details, users can register one or more PIX Keys, which can be their CPF (individual taxpayer number), CNPJ (corporate taxpayer number), email address, mobile number, or a randomly generated key (known as chave aleatória). The random key serves users who prefer not to share personal data like their CPF or phone number.
Statistics of PIX Keys (Estatísticas de Chaves PIX)
This metric refers to data about how many PIX Keys have been registered and how they are distributed among the different types (CPF, CNPJ, email, mobile number, or random key). It provides insight into how individuals and businesses are adopting PIX and which types of identifiers are most commonly used.
DICT: Registered Users and Accounts (Usuarios e Contas Cadastradas no DICT)
The DICT (Diretório de Identificadores de Contas Transacionais) is a central directory managed by the Central Bank that stores all PIX Keys and links them to their respective accounts. “Usuarios cadastrados no DICT” refers to the number of users who have registered one or more PIX Keys in this directory. “Contas cadastradas no DICT” indicates the total number of accounts associated with registered PIX Keys.
PIX Transactions (Transações PIX: Dentro e Fora do SPI)
PIX transactions can be categorized based on whether they are processed directly through the SPI or outside of it. Transactions “dentro do SPI” are those settled through the Central Bank’s instant payment infrastructure. Transactions “fora do SPI” typically involve internal transfers within the same financial institution, which do not require SPI settlement but are still considered PIX transactions.
Nature of the Transaction (Natureza da Transação)
Transactions are also classified according to the relationship between payer and payee.
The abbreviations correspond to the following:
G2G: Government to Government
G2B: Government to Business
G2P: Government to Person
B2G: Business to Government
P2G: Person to Government
B2B: Business to Business
P2B: Person to Business
P2P: Person to Person
These categories allow analysts to track how PIX is being used across different sectors of the economy.
Transactions by Type of Initiation (Transações por Forma de Iniciação)
PIX can be initiated in several ways. A PIX automático refers to automated payments, often used for recurring transactions. PIX por aproximação allows payments via near-field communication (NFC) technology, similar to contactless cards. Transactions iniciadas com todas as informações do recebedor are those where the payer enters all recipient details manually. QR code estático is a fixed QR code that can be reused, commonly used by small merchants. QR code dinâmico generates a new code for each payment, often used in e-commerce or large-scale retail. Inserção manual means the user manually inputs the payment information. Payments made through Chave PIX use one of the registered identifiers (email, CPF, etc.) instead of QR codes or manual input.
Users Who Have Already Made PIX (Usuários que Já Fizeram PIX)
This metric differentiates between users who have received at least one PIX transfer (recebedor) and those who have made at least one payment (pagador). It provides insight into adoption rates and usage behavior among individuals and businesses.
PIX Saque and PIX Troco
These are two additional PIX services that extend its functionality to cash transactions. PIX Saque allows users to withdraw cash from participating merchants using a PIX transfer, while PIX Troco lets them receive cash as “change” when paying a higher amount by PIX than the value of their purchase. Both services aim to reduce dependency on ATMs and improve financial inclusion in smaller towns.
Transactions by Payment Initiator (Transações por Iniciador de Pagamentos)
Some institutions, called iniciadores de pagamento, can initiate PIX transactions on behalf of clients even if they do not hold the customer’s funds. These entities expand competition and innovation by allowing new players—such as fintechs—to provide payment initiation services connected to the customer’s existing bank or digital wallet.
Participants in the PIX Ecosystem (Participantes do Sistema PIX)
The PIX ecosystem includes several types of participants. The provedor da conta transacional is the institution that provides users with their payment account and access to PIX. Liquidante especial refers to entities authorized to perform settlement functions for other participants. Iniciadores are the payment initiation service providers mentioned above. Participants can be either diretos no SPI (direct participants in the SPI) or indiretos no SPI (indirect participants). Direct participants have a direct technical and operational connection with the Central Bank’s SPI system, while indirect participants access the SPI through a direct participant.