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BC Repositions Drex, Focus on Credit and Circulation of Tokenized Assets, with First Version Expected in 2026 and Initially Without Blockchain.
The Central Bank has changed the course of Drex. The project, which was born as “digital real,” is no longer classified as a traditional CBDC and has become a tokenization platform focused on credit, collateral, and other financial assets. In June 2025, during Febraban Tech, the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, made it clear: “Drex is not exactly a CBDC as the literature describes,” signaling the conceptual and practical shift of the program.
The change is also a result of findings from the pilot and a payment scenario already covered by solutions like Pix. The Central Bank completed the first phase of the pilot in February 2025 and emphasized in the official report that architecture, privacy, and security are sensitive pillars of the design. The new emphasis of the project creates space for banks and fintechs to use receivables, bonds, or collateral tokens to accelerate credit and reconcile information between institutions.
In practice, Drex aims for efficiency in the “backstage” of the financial system. In 2025, the Central Bank announced a 3rd phase of the pilot focusing specifically on credit guarantees, a step that anticipates the commercial use of tokens to reduce information asymmetries and free up resources faster.
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What Changed: From “Digital Real” to Tokenization Platform
The shift in Drex responds to technological limitations seen in tests and regulatory priorities. Instead of issuing a digital version of the real for widespread public use, the Central Bank decided to prioritize infrastructure for asset tokenization and reconciliation of liens (collateral for operations). This change was detailed in recent reports that heard from authorities and pilot participants, consolidating the new framing of the project.
In August 2025, leading outlets in economic news highlighted that the first version, expected in 2026, will be focused on internal services of the system, without blockchain and without public tokenization at launch, aimed at solving concrete issues of credit and registration. The directive positions Drex as an infrastructure layer and not as “currency for everyday use” in this initial phase.
Even with the repositioning, the long-term goal remains: digitizing assets with legal security, interoperability, and automation through smart contracts when the technology meets compliance requirements. The Central Bank itself maintains technical documentation and guidelines that anchor this platform vision.
Privacy and LGPD: Why Blockchain Was Left Out (For Now)
The Achilles’ heel of the tests was privacy. Since 2023, the project coordinator, Fábio Araújo, has publicly acknowledged that the solutions evaluated, including permissioned blockchain (Hyperledger Besu), did not meet the level of privacy required by LGPD and banking secrecy. This issue stalled timelines and required re-discussion of the architecture.
In the Phase 1 Report of the pilot (Feb. 2025), the Central Bank noted the challenges of privacy, data protection, and security, emphasizing that progress depends on full adherence to legislation. Other official communications from the Central Bank and ecosystem partners reiterated that the project will only proceed with technologies capable of protecting customer data without sacrificing auditability and compliance. Privacy has ceased to be a “desirable requirement” and has become a precondition.
In this context, the monetary authority opted for a more restricted start, without DLT, while maturing alternatives that reconcile programmability with confidentiality, a theme that remains under technical evaluation in Brazil and abroad. Market expectations are that the use of smart contracts and possible distributed networks will be reassessed when there is evidence of compliance and scale.
Timeline and Impact: What Arrives in 2026 and Who Benefits from It
The current plan targets a first version by 2026 focused on reconciliation of guarantees and use cases for credit among institutions. The promise is to reduce friction in checks, removal of liens, and registration of guarantees, steps that, when digitalized, can make credit available in seconds, with lower operational costs and less risk.
For banks and fintechs, the platform is likely to be the “Pix of the backstage”: less focused on retail at the start and more on infrastructure. The reduction of informational asymmetries and the enforceability of guarantees could expand access to credit for individuals and SMEs, a long-standing market demand. Recent reports reinforce this pragmatic reading of the Central Bank.
The end consumer will not see, for now, a “digital real app.” But can feel the effects through faster credit, potentially lower rates, and financial products with settlement and tokenized custody in the back-office. The escalation to broader cases will depend on governance, interoperability, and, above all, privacy at LGPD level.
Do you think Drex is on the right path by prioritizing infrastructure and privacy, even starting without blockchain and far from the end user, or should the Central Bank insist on the original concept of “digital real” to compete with stablecoins and private wallets? Comment below!
Isso é sinal que não é bom pq ele pode fazer oq quiser com você. Então opção melhor não aceitar DREX e nem moeda digital. Vamos tirar esse governo que apoia essa ideia q quer escravidão igual a china povo vira robô 🤖 pode fazer nada contra governo você sabe o final
Se na época do COLLOR deu ****, imagina colocar e esse tipo poder na mão do ESTADO, se ele quiser bloquear,zera sua conta,congela, ele pode tudo.
Já vou avisando vai dá ****
Também com a repercussão negativa em torno do projeto, o medo de perder a liberdade financeira de guardar o dindin no colchão sem o governo saber, tiveram que mudar, mesmo que por algum tempo o foco do projeto, depois que a poeira abaixar ,sem ninguém saber , pegam todos de surpresa, e lançam a bomba, governo não dá ponto sem no