00:00The U.S. government accused Brazil of alleged unfair trade practices in relation to the Brazilian
00:05Central Bank's electronic currency transaction system, PAX. In the following report, a correspondent
00:12by Amir tells us about how reality contradicts Washington's allegations.
00:18This week, the Brazilian government issued an official response to the U.S. government
00:23investigation into what it calls unfair trade practices related to PICS, the Brazilian
00:29Central Bank's electronic currency transaction system, which is currently used by 93% of
00:35the population. If it's unfair, Brazil argues, why are the IMF and OECD praising it, and why
00:42does Google Pay use it?
00:44The instantaneity of PICS is multidimensional and omnipresent. Both the information and the
00:49transfer itself arrive instantly.
00:52After years of development, PICS was rolled out in 2020 and immediately became popular
00:57with Brazil's millions of workers in the informal sector, who had previously been working only
01:02with cash due to bureaucratic difficulties registering to receive credit and debit card payments.
01:08PICS is safer than cash for our customers who come here to shop, and for us who are working
01:16here on the streets, because we don't have to carry large amounts of cash. We also don't
01:21have to pay the absorbed fees charged by the credit and debit card companies.
01:28With economists around the world praising it, including Nobel laureate Paul Krugman who calls
01:33it the future of money, and countries like Chile and Uruguay working with Brazil to implement
01:38their own PICS-style systems, many analysts believe the Trump administration's motives have
01:43more to do with pleasing campaign donors than any concern about business ethics.
01:52PICS conflicts with the interests of the North American big tech companies that are allied
01:57with the Trump administration and are fierce allies of North American capitalism. PICS represents
02:04a threat to these companies because they want to roll out their own private attorney payment
02:09systems in Brazil.
02:14With a debit card and its 1-3% fees quickly becoming a thing of the past, it looks like PICS is here
02:19to stay, no matter what the Silicon Valley billionaires think about it. Brian Telesur, São Paulo.
Comments