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Fintechs, financial systems, banking innovation, payments, infrastructure and the digital economy.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
The central bank sets the benchmark interest rate, issues money and looks after the soundness of banks. Learn about its functions, how monetary policy works and what the independence set out in law means.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
A no-fee account and free Pix transfers don't mean a service without revenue. Here is where fintechs' money comes from, how much of it is regulated and why many end up depending on credit.
Crypto & Web3 · Explainer
How cryptocurrency is taxed in Brazil depends on where the asset is held in custody. Transactions in the country follow one rule; assets on foreign platforms have followed another, stricter one since 2024. And the way to report to the tax authority changed in July 2026.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Not putting all your eggs in one basket limits the damage when one basket falls. But some falls knock over every basket at once, and diversifying does not change that.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Drex was born as Brazil's central bank platform for tokenized money and assets. The pilot exposed a privacy problem the tested technology did not solve, and the project changed course. See what it was, what was tested and where it stands.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Opening an account in a store's app or taking credit at checkout looks simple. Behind it, a licensed institution provides the service. Learn who is responsible for what and what Brazil's 2025 rule changed.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
An ETF is a fund that tries to replicate an index and whose shares trade on the stock exchange like a stock. The idea is simple; the details of operation, cost and tax explain what it delivers and what it does not.
Finance & Digital Economy · Analysis
Buying shares in a Brazilian real estate investment fund and buying a property to rent out are different ways of getting exposure to the same market. What changes is what you own, who decides, how you exit and how tax applies.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
A digital scam rarely depends on a technical flaw: it almost always depends on someone convincing you to act in a hurry. Learn the most common patterns, the habits that reduce risk and the step-by-step for the first hours after a fraud.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Inflation is the loss of money's purchasing power. See where it comes from, how it is measured in Brazil, how the inflation-targeting system tries to control it and who loses most when it rises.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Compound interest is interest calculated on interest. The idea is simple, but the effect grows over time, both in an investment and in a debt. See how to do the math and where it tends to mislead.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Interest rates set in Washington and Frankfurt move the prices of bonds, stocks, real estate and currencies worldwide, including in Brazil. Understand the channels, without forecasts.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Liquidity is how much time and how much money you lose turning an asset into cash in your account. It seems like a detail until the day you need the money and it isn't available.
Finance & Digital Economy · Analysis
In the app, a neobank and a traditional bank look the same. The difference lies in the license each one holds, in what protects your balance and in the business model. Here is what to check.
Crypto & Web3 · Explainer
DeFi is the name given to financial services provided by programs running on blockchains, with no bank or broker in the middle. The promise is open access; the risks are in the code, the governance and the market.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
A CBDC is digital money issued directly by the central bank. Almost every central bank is studying the idea, but very few have launched one, and the reasons say a lot about the subject.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Open Finance lets you take your financial data from one institution to another and make payments from different apps. Here is how the architecture works, what the rules require of consent and where the limits are.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Many countries already move money in seconds, at any hour. The systems look the same to users, but they differ in who controls them, who can take part and how much they are used.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Behind a Pix that lands in seconds are two core components run by the Central Bank of Brazil, the SPI and the DICT, and a set of rules defining who takes part and how. Here is the path of a transaction and the newest features.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Financial planning does not start with choosing an investment. It starts with knowing where your money comes from and where it goes, and with giving each part of it a destination and a deadline.
Finance & Digital Economy · Analysis
Fixed income does not mean guaranteed returns, and equities do not mean gambling. The difference lies in how the return is defined and in who bears each risk.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
There is no official number of months. There are criteria: what your essential month costs, how stable your income is and how long it would take you to get back on your feet.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
A return figure on its own says little. To understand an investment, you need to know which return is meant, over what period, after what and with what chance of going wrong.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
The Selic is not the rate you pay at the bank. It is the starting point of a chain that runs through banks, the exchange rate, asset prices and expectations before reaching credit, consumption and inflation.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Every time you get paid, settle a bill or invest, several institutions work together. See how the financial system is organized, who operates it, who supervises it and where the risks lie.
Finance & Digital Economy · Analysis
A stablecoin is a private company's promise. A central bank digital currency is money from the state itself. Learn what changes for users, why central banks distrust stablecoins and where public projects stand as of October 2026.
Finance & Digital Economy · Explainer
Tesouro Direto is how individuals in Brazil buy federal government bonds. See what each bond pays, how much it costs to hold, how to exit before maturity and where the risks lie.
Tokenization & Real-World Assets · Explainer
A tokenized debenture is still a debenture: a company's debt, with an indenture, a trustee and CVM rules. The token changes the record and the trading, not the risk of whoever owes.
Tokenization & Real-World Assets · Analysis
Both promise access to real estate with little money. But one is a product with its own law and a supervised administrator; the other is a label covering very different legal structures.
Tokenization & Real-World Assets · Explainer
A receivables token gives the right to part of a stream of payments a company is due to receive. Behind it, the structure that protects investors is securitization, and the CVM treats it as such.
Tokenization & Real-World Assets · Explainer
Government bonds have been digital in Brazil for decades. Tokenization promises instant settlement and programmable rules, but official tests show specific gains and limits that remain unsolved.
Tokenization & Real-World Assets · Explainer
Tokenizing a contract is not putting the PDF on a blockchain. It means transferring, with legal validity, the right to receive a payment, and only then representing that right in tokens, within capital markets rules.
Finance & Digital Economy · In Brazilian Portuguese
Finance & Digital Economy · In Brazilian Portuguese
Finance & Digital Economy · In Brazilian Portuguese
