Brazilian payments app PicPay to launch crypto exchange and stablecoin

Brazilian fintech PicPay is to launch a stablecoin and cryptocurrency exchange as part of a drive to make crypto more accessible in the country.

The new cryptocurrency will be called the Brazilian Real Coin

PicPay, which has 65 million registered users, says crypto “goes far beyond an investment” and sees it as a way to decentralise payments and other financial services.

Users will be able to store and buy cryptocurrencies through PicPay, learn how to invest in crypto in the app and use crypto to pay for “everything, anywhere”.

PicPay co-founder and vice president of technology and products Anderson Chamon says: “There is still a lot of complexity in the crypto world, and our role is to make it as easy as using money for everyone.”

The company’s new crypto exchange will act as a broker and users will be able to access it through the app to purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as USDP, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar on the Ethereum blockchain.

PicPay’s proposed stablecoin will be called the Brazilian Real Coin (BRC) – pegged to the Brazilian Real – and the company hopes it will find utility as a cryptocurrency outside of investing.

The fintech hopes opportunities in payments, credit and other day-to-day financial services will drive the adoption of BRC by the company’s 30 million active users.

To support the move, the digital payment start-up has set up a new Web3-focused business unit dedicated to crypto. “We have strong growth plans for it, with the hiring of new talent that works in both crypto and Web3,” Chamon says.

PicPay says it is investing in Web3 because it believes the newest iteration of the web will “unlock new business opportunities and usage opportunities”, especially in financial services, payments and personal loans.

The announcement from PicPay comes amid an unfolding crypto winter, which has seen lenders file for bankruptcy, mass layoffs and withdrawals frozen.

Despite these gloomy headwinds, Chamon says the technological promise of crypto and blockchain remains and cryptocurrencies “will grow again as new ways of using them appear and become commonplace”.