[Brazil Central Bank selects Visa and Santander Bank to participate in the second phase of CBDC pilot] Golden Finance reported that the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) announced on September 5, 2024 that it had selected 13 participants to enter the second phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) "Digital Real" (Real Digital) pilot. These projects will be supervised by BCB and the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), and a total of 42 proposals were received. Visa will work with XP Investments and digital bank Nubank to optimize the foreign exchange market. And Spanish banking giant Santander will participate in projects involving car operations and loan carbon reduction. In addition, important financial institutions such as Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco and local stock exchange B3 were also selected to participate in the test. BCB said that the third phase of the test will be open for registration in the third quarter of 2024, and plans to test the implementation of smart contracts in the first half of 2025. The first phase of the pilot was launched in May 2023 with 14 participants.