What is Pix payment? How does it work? Your full guide

If you’re planning a trip or a move to Brazil, or if you’re sending and receiving payments in BRL, you may have heard of Pix.

The Pix payment system was set up by the Brazilian National Bank in 2020, to facilitate instant transfers in BRL.

This guide covers the full features and process for Pix money transfer — and looks at ways to use Pix with Wise for easy, low cost international payments.

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What is Pix payment?

Pix was announced in 2019 and launched in 2020, by the Banco Central do Brasil¹ — the Brazilian National Bank.

It’s a payment system which lets users instantly transfer money in Brazilian real between participating institutions, which include hundreds of Brazilian banks and financial technology companies.

You can send a Pix money transfer to another individual, pay a company, or even use it to make payments to the government.

How does Pix money transfer work?

Pix money transfers can be made from accounts held with participating institutions, in Brazilian reais (BRL).

You can send a payment to a friend — for example — using their Pix alias, known as chave Pix, which may be their phone number or email address. This means you don’t need to get their full banking details just to split the cost of a bill.

You can also use Pix to pay a merchant — usually by scanning the merchant’s QR code with your phone².

Do you need a Brazilian bank account to use Pix?

To use Pix you’ll need an account with a participating payment service provider. This could be a bank, but it’s also used by other financial organizations like financial technology companies.

However, it’s worth noting that Pix payments are in BRL only. This means that the organizations offering Pix payments are usually either Brazilian themselves, or financial technology services processing payments from Brazil to other countries around the world, such as Wise.

You can’t, for example, link your US bank account to Pix directly — but you could use Pix to pay for a payment from your Brazilian bank account to the US through a specialist service like Wise.

How long does a Pix payment take?

Pix payments are deposited instantly, even when they’re made out of banking hours.

Pix and international payments

So, can Pix be used to make transfers overseas? While Pix payments are only available in Brazilian real, there are ways you can use Pix to make an international payment by using a specialist service. Let’s look at how.

Can you use Pix to send money abroad?

You can’t use Pix to send an international payment directly. That’s because Pix payments are always deposited in BRL.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use Pix at all for your overseas transfer — you’ll just need to process your payment via a specialist service like Wise³.

We’ll look at this in more detail in just a moment, but what this means is that you use Pix to deposit BRL to the money transfer provider’s account in Brazil.

And the money transfer service will then send out the agreed amount in the currency you need to the person you’re paying. This is convenient, and if you pick an international transfer provider it can be fast and cheap too.

Can you use Pix in the US?

Pix payments are in BRL only, and only available through participating Brazilian banks and financial institutions. In the US there are equivalent services, like Zelle or Venmo.

Can foreigners use Pix?

If you hold an account with a bank or provider which offers Pix, you’ll be able to use the services available.

That means if you’re a foreigner living in Brazil, for example, with a Brazilian bank account, you can benefit from fast and easy Pix payments as long as your bank is part of the Pix payment scheme.

Make international Pix payments with Wise

Looking for a way to send money with Pix in BRL, and have it deposited into a bank account in the US or elsewhere? Meet Wise.

Wise is a specialist in international transfers, which offers payments to 80+ countries, in 50+ currencies, with the mid-market exchange rate. If you’re sending from Brazil, you can pay Wise in BRL using Pix, and Wise will pass on the funds, in the currency of your choice, to the recipient.

Send up to 1,000,000 BRL per transfer when you use Pix payments to arrange overseas transfers with Wise⁴.

This means you get all the convenience of Pix, with the option to send to any Wise supported country, using the Google exchange rate and low, transparent fees.

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Common questions about Pix payments

Still got questions? Here are the answers to a few more commonly asked questions about Pix money transfers.

Is Pix safe?

Pix is safe. It’s offered via the Banco Central do Brasil, and has been designed with safety in mind right from launch.

The Brazilian National Bank has strict standards for security of Pix payments, which banks and providers must comply with, and any data used or stored as part of the Pix payment service is encrypted and kept securely.

Does PayPal use Pix?

Whether or not you can use PayPal and Pix together will depend on how your PayPal account is set up, and where in the world you are.

PayPal users in Brazil, with Brazil registered accounts, may be able to use Pix. However, it is unlikely you’ll be able to integrate your PayPal account with Pix if you’re in another country.

Is Pix like Zelle?

Pix is like Zelle in that it offers instant payments which don’t need the recipient’s full banking details. Zelle transfers can only be made in USD — while Pix payments are offered in BRL only.

Pix is a fast, secure and simple way to make BRL payments to individuals, organizations and businesses. If you’re in Brazil and have an account with a bank or financial service provider which supports Pix you’ll find it pretty easy to get set up and intuitive to start making payments.

Pix payments can only be made in BRL. However, you can send money from Brazil to over 80+ countries with Wise, and pay with Pix for convenience.

Check out Wise if you’re looking for a great way to get your money moving to the US — or any other supported country.

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