Brazilians Can Now Hold US Dollars Through Popular PIX Payment App

A new feature lets 170 million PIX users in Brazil swap their local currency for digital US dollars (USDT) and spend it easily.

Imagine being able to keep some of your money in US dollars without ever leaving your favorite payment app. That's exactly what's now possible for millions of people in Brazil.

A smartphone payment app called Oobit has connected with PIX — Brazil's hugely popular instant payment system. PIX (created by Brazil's central bank in 2020) lets people pay and transfer money instantly using just their phones, similar to apps like Venmo or Zelle.

Here's what the new feature does:

Users deposit reais (BRL) — Brazil's local currency — into the Oobit app.
They can then swap those reais for USDT, a type of digital dollar.
They can spend that USDT through PIX, just like normal everyday payments.

What is USDT? USDT is a *stablecoin* (a digital coin designed to always be worth about $1 US dollar). It's issued by a company called Tether and is the most widely used dollar-linked digital currency in the world. Holding USDT is a way for people to get "dollar exposure" — meaning their savings are tied to the US dollar instead of the often less stable Brazilian real.

The clever part is the experience feels familiar. As one Oobit advisor put it: "The blockchain runs in the background, while the experience is identical to the PIX flow Brazilians already know." In other words, users don't need to understand crypto technology — it just works like their regular banking app.

A few key facts about Oobit:

It raised $25 million in funding in 2024.
That round was led by Tether and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko.
It reaches a potential 170 million PIX users.

Oobit isn't alone in this space. Back in 2023, Circle (which issues a rival stablecoin called USDC) partnered with Brazil's big fintech company Nubank to offer similar dollar access.

The bottom line: This move makes it much easier for everyday Brazilians to protect their savings in US dollars while still paying for daily life in their normal way — bridging traditional banking and digital currencies.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://www.theblock.co/post/405819/tether-backed-oobit-brings-usdt-170-million-users-brazils-pix-payment-network?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss