tl;dr
Brazil’s Central Bank plans to use transaction data from its central bank digital currency (CBDC) system, Drex, to inform interest rate decisions. The bank will aggregate anonymized, time-stamped payment and asset transfer data to monitor economic activity in near real time, supplementing traditiona...
Brazil’s Central Bank plans to use anonymized transaction data from its central bank digital currency (CBDC), Drex, to generate real-time economic indicators that will inform interest rate decisions and credit access models, all while maintaining user privacy.
The bank will aggregate time-stamped, hashed transaction and asset transfer data recorded on Drex’s distributed ledger to measure consumption shifts, liquidity, and sector performance in near real time. This data will supplement traditional economic indicators and feed into existing economic models ahead of Monetary Policy Committee meetings, enabling swifter monetary policy responses.
To ensure privacy, the system hashes personal identifiers and keeps usernames off-chain, preserving anonymity while maintaining transaction integrity. In addition, the initiative includes a credit access model where borrowers with limited bank history can share Drex-based cash flow data with lenders without needing pay stubs, offering auditable income evidence.
The Central Bank encourages universities, startups, and public agencies to develop analytical tools on the Drex platform. Potential applications include agriculture and public health sectors, with agencies able to query anonymized data to improve crop yield forecasts or simulate disease spread.
Drex’s pilot phase began in March with 16 institutions testing tokenized public debt and deposits, but full rollout depends on congressional approval. The Central Bank underscores that while policy ownership remains with the monetary board, the transaction data layer essentially belongs to society.