Carlos Eduardo Brandt, the Payment-Smoothing Banker of Brazil

In November 2020, Brazil’s central bank started Pix, which allows for fast, free smartphone transfers from bank accounts or digital wallets. The timing was good. With businesses closed during the pandemic, the use of cash at points of sale had plummeted while informal work boomed. Pix let funds be passed between people almost as easily as bills and coins.

In July, Pix broke its own record of 40 million transfers in one day. In October more than 500 billion reais (about $92 billion) moved through the app—over 30 times more transfers than there were via the second-most-used electronic payment platform. “Send a pix” has become shorthand in the country for requesting payment. Bars, restaurants, e-commerce sites, and utilities accept it, as do homeless people at intersections.