Pix: Brazil's real-time bank transfer (a2a)
Pix is a real-time bank transfer (a2a) used in Brazil. Brazil's instant account-to-account rail, operated by the Central Bank and used by nearly every adult in the country. Available to every consumer with a Brazilian bank or fintech account — effectively the entire banked population, well over 150 million individuals plus tens of millions of businesses. This page covers how the flow works, where consumers use it, and which merchants should accept it.
How the Pix flow works
Pix is an instant, 24/7 account-to-account payment rail operated directly by the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB). It settles in central bank money in seconds, not business days, and is available to any Brazilian bank, fintech or payment institution licensed to hold accounts.
At checkout the merchant's PSP generates a Pix charge — a static/dynamic QR, a copy-and-paste "Pix Copia e Cola" string, or a Pix key tied to the merchant. The consumer opens their banking app, scans or pastes, reviews the amount and payee, and authorises with biometrics or PIN.
Funds move through the BCB's SPI (Sistema de Pagamentos Instantâneos). The merchant's PSP receives a webhook confirming settlement within a few seconds and the order can be released immediately.
There is no card network in the middle, no issuer authorisation to decline, and no scheme interchange. The consumer authenticates directly with their own bank, which is why approval rates are high and the fraud vector differs from cards.
Typical use cases
- E-commerce checkout in Brazil where card decline rates or interchange erode margin.
- High-ticket purchases (electronics, travel, B2B) where cards hit issuer limits or trigger step-up.
- Marketplaces and platforms paying out to Brazilian sellers or creators.
- Bill pay, top-ups, remittances landing in Brazil, and recurring or on-demand flows where near-instant confirmation matters.
- In-person payments via dynamic QR at POS, delivery or field services.
Consumer reach
Available to every consumer with a Brazilian bank or fintech account — effectively the entire banked population, well over 150 million individuals plus tens of millions of businesses.
The default digital payment method in Brazil for P2P, bill pay and increasingly e-commerce, displacing both cash and a meaningful share of card volume.
Adoption spans every demographic and income bracket, including segments historically underserved by credit cards.
Who should accept Pix
- Any merchant selling to Brazilian consumers online or in-app — offering Pix is table stakes for a credible BR checkout.
- Merchants with high card decline rates in Brazil, high-ticket verticals, or thin margins where card interchange and FX compress unit economics.
- Cross-border merchants relying on international cards for BR buyers: Pix converts the long tail of card-declined or unbanked-credit buyers.
- Marketplaces, gig platforms and creator economies paying out to Brazilian recipients.
- Subscription businesses that can offer Pix as first-choice with card as fallback, or run Pix-first with tokenised recurring where supported.
Operational detail
The operational half of every method profile — settlement, refunds, disputes, PSP coverage and licensing — is reserved for Payment Methods List founding partners. It's the part vendor sites won't publish and the part that actually decides whether Pix works for your stack.
Settlement time
How fast Pix funds land after the payer confirms, behaviour outside scheme hours, whether the rail settles gross or net, and the realistic T+n to sweep to USD/EUR — plus the PSPs where the advertised timeline actually holds in Brazil.
Book a founding-partner call →Refund mechanics
How Pix refunds are executed end-to-end when the rail has no scheme-level reversal — payer-initiated pulls, credit transfers, or PSP-fronted refunds — plus partial-refund support, time limits, and the API surface each PSP exposes.
Book a founding-partner call →Chargeback exposure
Whether Pix has any dispute construct at all, which recall/return/indemnity vectors actually exist on the rail, how consumer-protection rules in Brazil route claims back to merchants, and observed loss rates versus cards.
Book a founding-partner call →PSP coverage matrix
Which acquirers and aggregators run direct rail connections to Pix vs. reselling a partner, coverage depth and reliability, effective pricing bands, and who to pick when Brazil volume is your primary use case.
Book a founding-partner call →KYC & licensing notes
Requirements to accept Pix — local entity vs. cross-border MoR, licensing regime governing the rail in Brazil, KYC obligations at onboarding and per-transaction, and FX/reporting rules for foreign merchants.
Book a founding-partner call →Frequently asked questions about Pix
What is Pix?
Pix is a real-time bank transfer (a2a) used in Brazil, in the Latin America region. Brazil's instant account-to-account rail, operated by the Central Bank and used by nearly every adult in the country. The profile on this page documents the checkout flow step by step, the use cases it fits, the consumer base that can pay with it, and the merchant types that should carry it. Last reviewed July 31, 2026 by Ale Aznar.
Which countries does Pix cover?
Pix is recorded against Brazil in the Latin America region, which is the market where its consumer reach is meaningful for merchants. Cross-border acceptance depends on the acquirer or merchant-of-record you use rather than on the rail itself. The Brazil country hub lists every other alternative and local method tracked for that market alongside Pix.
What does Pix cost a merchant?
Pricing for Pix is not a single published number: it moves with monthly volume, vertical, entity type and whether you connect through a direct acquirer or an aggregator. Effective pricing bands per provider, plus the fixed-fee and FX components that sit alongside the headline rate, are part of the founding-partner dataset rather than this public Brazil profile.
Which PSPs and aggregators give access to Pix?
Access to Pix runs either through an acquirer with a direct rail connection or through an aggregator reselling a partner's connection, and the two differ in reliability and reporting. The list of providers processing Pix in Brazil today, whether each is direct or resold, and where onboarding is currently restricted sits in the founding-partner PSP coverage matrix.
Is Pix available for E-commerce checkout in Brazil where card decline rates or interchange erode margin?
Yes. That is one of the documented use cases for Pix in Brazil: E-commerce checkout in Brazil where card decline rates or interchange erode margin. Vertical eligibility is ultimately set by the provider you onboard with, not by the rail, so regulated categories such as gambling, crypto and adult content are commonly excluded even where the real-time bank transfer (a2a) itself supports the flow. Confirm the restriction list with your acquirer.
What are the settlement time and currency for Pix?
Pix is a real-time bank transfer (a2a), so the payer-side confirmation and the merchant-side payout are separate events with different timing. Settlement windows, cut-off behaviour outside scheme hours, the payout currency, and the realistic timeline to sweep funds out of Brazil are documented in the operational section of this profile, available to Payment Methods List founding partners.