Cross-border payments platform dLocal has debuted a solution for Brazilian merchants centered around the country’s Pix payments system.
The new solution, SmartPix, lets merchants process tokenized Pix payments, including recurring and on-demand charges, without having customers manually authorize each transaction, dLocal said in a Wednesday (Aug. 6) news release.
“While Pix has achieved widespread adoption in Brazil, it currently presents challenges for businesses relying on recurring or repeat transactions,” dLocal said in the release. “The existing system requires users to manually authorize each payment individually, creating friction, particularly in subscription-based scenarios.”
The Central Bank of Brazil, the release notes, has introduced Pix Automático, which is designed to tackle the problem of recurring payments, particularly recurring payments with the same amount to the same merchant, like streaming or music subscriptions.
The company says SmartPix fills the gap between Pix and Pix Automático, meeting a need for more flexible recurring and automated payments.
“With SmartPix, merchants can securely store customers’ Pix credentials, similar to card-on-file, and initiate charges in real time, even when the amounts vary,” the release said.
“This fully tokenized, one-click Pix experience means no more QR codes, no repetitive approvals, and no checkout friction. The result is higher conversion for payments, better customer retention, and a dramatically improved user experience.”
Introduced by Brazil’s central bank in 2020, Pix lets users send and receive money within seconds, and is used by around three-quarters of the country’s population.
And as PYMNTS has written, it’s been one of the catalysts for the broader embrace of digital payments in Latin America.
“This shift is fundamentally reshaping commerce and financial access, with consumers and businesses increasingly favoring mobile wallets, real-time transfers and other digital tools,” PYMNTS wrote in June. “Mobile devices are fast becoming the preferred means for payments, revolutionizing purchasing behaviors and actively promoting financial inclusion.”
Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found that Pix processed 64 billion transactions last year, a 53% year-over-year increase, surpassing the combined total of transactions involving debit and credit cards by 80%. By the end of last year, the service was processing upwards of 6 billion transactions per month.
Pix is also expanding beyond the borders of Brazil, thanks to a recent partnership between payments technology companies PagBrasil and Verifone.
Announced last month, this collaboration centers on an in-store, alternative payment method that lets Brazilian travelers pay with their country’s Reais using Pix while shopping in the U.S.