Bradesco announces first international remittances via stablecoin: ‘No turning back’

The bank believes that any restrictions from the Central Bank should not affect its blockchain operations.

Cointelegraph News

Bradesco announced this week that it will make its first international remittances in January 2025 using stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies.

The bank told Valor that on-ramp and off-ramp transactions, which are the conversion of fiat currencies into cryptocurrencies and vice versa, will be carried out by the bank through a partnership with the blockchain infrastructure company Parfin and using the USDCR$6.19 stablecoin pegged to the US dollar issued by Circle. The first foreign trade transactions are expected to take place in January, with at least four clients already confirmed.

According to Bradesco's director of international and foreign exchange, Roberto Medeiros, the use of blockchain technology, through USDC, enables greater efficiency and lower costs. This began with some exporters in Bolivia, where stablecoins are regulated and have made it easier for customers to receive payments.

According to the executive, the disintermediation, programmability and efficiency of blockchain in relation to traditional cross-border remittance systems, such as SWIFT, represent a “path of no return” and can no longer be ignored by large incumbent banks.

The executive emphasized that all transactions will be reported to the Central Bank (BC) and added that he does not believe that the monetary authority will follow through with its regulatory proposal to limit cross-border payments and transfers using stablecoins to US$503,907,610,805,000, in addition to the ceiling being for individuals and companies.

Medeiros also said that the bank must carefully select its customers based on their adherence to international money laundering prevention (AML) and KYC (know your customer) criteria.