Brazil’s instant-payment system Pix processed more transactions than all credit, debit and prepaid card payments combined in the first half of 2025, according to official data from the country’s central bank.
Banco Central do Brasil reported that Pix accounted for 50.9% of payment transactions during the period, with 36.9 billion transactions. Credit, debit and prepaid cards together accounted for 34.3%, with 24.9 billion transactions.
A rapid shift in payment habits
Pix launched in November 2020 and allows individuals and businesses to transfer money almost instantly. The central bank said Pix transaction numbers grew 27.6% in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier.
The comparison concerns the number of transactions, not their total monetary value. In the same data, interbank TED transfers accounted for the largest share of payment value, while Pix ranked second.
What the figures establish
The data show that Pix had become Brazil’s most frequently used non-cash payment instrument by transaction count. They do not show that Visa and Mastercard had been displaced globally, or that cards had ceased to be important in Brazil.
The more precise conclusion is that a public instant-payment system overtook all card categories combined within the Brazilian market during the first half of 2025.
