Google, Visa and Nubank are among the big names selected to take part on the second round pilots for Brazil's Drex CBDC project.
Brazil's central bank has been working on a digital real project for several years, beginning a first pilot phase in 2023 testing privacy and programmability functionalities through the implementation of a specific use case.
Now, it has whittled down proposals for a second phase from 42 to 13, using the infrastructure already created to test "the implementation of financial services, made available through smart contracts created and managed by third parties participating in the platform".
Visa will work with Nubank and brokerage XP on using a CBDC for "optimisation of the foreign exchange market". Google will work with financial services firms on credit collateralised in public securities; while Santander is experimenting on transactions for cars.
Meanwhile, the central bank is already preparing a new call for applicants to take part in Drex pilots on smart contracts.