What challenges did Banco Central do Brasil face before AI implementation?

Need for a secure and efficient digital currency to modernize Brazil’s economy. Desire to broaden access to financial services and promote financial inclusion, especially for the unbanked population. High transaction costs and inefficiencies in existing payment and settlement systems. Risks and limitations of unregulated cryptocurrencies for nationwide payment infrastructure. Heightened demands for privacy and security in digital asset transactions.

What was the impact of the AI solution?

Launched an advanced CBDC pilot covering national financial infrastructure. Enabled more accessible government-to-person payments through digital wallets. Reduced transaction costs and improved efficiency for financial sector operations. Expanded financial inclusion for unbanked populations through digital solutions. Set a benchmark for secure, programmable, and scalable digital currencies globally.

Source

MicrosoftWent darkPilotEvidence: Medium50/100

Banco Central do Brasil advances financial inclusion and efficiency with digital currency initiative

Use case typeDigital bankingUpdated Jun 13, 2026

Banco Central do Brasil, together with Microsoft and commercial banking partners, has launched 'Drex', one of the world’s most advanced central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects. Built on Microsoft Azure, Drex leverages distributed ledger technology for secure and decentralized transactions and integrates generative AI copilots to automate smart contract creation and risk assessment. Its tokenization framework paves the way for programmable and composable financial products while addressing privacy with cutting-edge security solutions like zero-knowledge proofs. In its second development phase (2024–2025), the project focuses on expanding use cases, privacy validation, and scalable deployments throughout Brazil’s financial system. Drex is expected to drive financial inclusion, reduce transaction costs, improve efficiency in government-to-citizen payments, and rationalize financial sector operations, setting a blueprint for CBDCs globally.

Organization: Banco Central do Brasil
Industry: Finance
Location: Brazil
Published: June 2024

Reported outcomes

Strategic outcomes

New product / capabilityLaunched an advanced CBDC pilotCustomer experience & trustEnabled digital government paymentsCost efficiencyReduced transaction costs and inefficienciesMarket & geographic expansionExpanded financial inclusion for unbanked populations

Why do we believe this deployment?Customer identity, provider attribution, maturity, and source checks

Customer: Banco Central do Brasil
Provider: Microsoft
Maturity: Pilot
Linked source: microsoft.com

Launched an advanced CBDC pilot covering national financial infrastructure

Customer identity supportedSource describes one deploymentMaturity supported

Primary read

Use case focus

Showing 3 of 4

1Central Bank Digital Currency Implementation
2Smart Contract Automation for Financial Services
3Programmable Financial Asset Tokenization

Need for a secure and efficient digital currency to modernize Brazil’s economy.
Desire to broaden access to financial services and promote financial inclusion, especially for the unbanked population.
High transaction costs and inefficiencies in existing payment and settlement systems.
Risks and limitations of unregulated cryptocurrencies for nationwide payment infrastructure.
Heightened demands for privacy and security in digital asset transactions.

Implemented a CBDC (Drex) supported by Microsoft Azure’s secure, scalable cloud infrastructure.
Leveraged distributed ledger technology (DLT) for transaction transparency and tokenization of assets.
Integrated generative AI copilots for smart contract development, document analysis, code generation, and risk/vulnerability detection.
Used advanced security solutions, including zero-knowledge proof (ZKP Nova) and Azure Managed Confidential Consortium Framework for privacy.
Collaborated across central bank, commercial banks, and partners for system-wide adoption.

Technologies

Azure AI Azure OpenAI Azure Copilot Security

Launched an advanced CBDC pilot covering national financial infrastructure.
Enabled more accessible government-to-person payments through digital wallets.
Reduced transaction costs and improved efficiency for financial sector operations.
Expanded financial inclusion for unbanked populations through digital solutions.
Set a benchmark for secure, programmable, and scalable digital currencies globally.

Architecture

The Drex CBDC operates on Microsoft Azure’s secure and scalable cloud platform. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is used for decentralized, transparent transaction management and tokenization of financial assets. Azure provides privacy and security through services such as Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP Nova) and Azure Managed Confidential Consortium Framework (CCF). Generative AI copilots assist with smart contract creation, risk analysis, and code generation. The solution integrates with other financial infrastructures (e.g., Brazil’s PIX and potentially SWIFT), supported by a network of commercial banks and partners.

Sources & evidence1

Evidence: Medium50/100Evidence strength