After 4 years of Drex, the Central Bank will abandon the 'digital real' project, says publication
The Central Bank is expected to shut down the Drex platform, the “digital real”, next Monday (10). The information was given exclusively by Blocknews.
It has been more than four years of development of the so-called pilot project of Drex, which faced real issues — such as transparency and information security — as well as questions about governmental hyper-surveillance.
According to the publication, the BC will discontinue Drex and create a new infrastructure for the pilot project. It was not clear whether this technology would involve the use of blockchain, but it is most likely that it will not utilize the innovation that created cryptocurrencies.
This is because the Drex network, based on the Hyperledger Besu blockchain, did not meet requirements such as privacy and security for financial operations.
Last August, the BC had already informed that it would give up using blockchain in Phase 3 of the pilot project to mature the technology.
CBDCs and stablecoins: The new phase of Drex
With the abandonment of Drex, the Brazilian Central Bank joins other monetary authorities and buries the projects of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), as they are known as “state cryptocurrencies”.
A study conducted by Nexa Finance in October of this year showed that the number of countries and monetary unions exploring CBDCs reached 137 in 2025. However, only 5 jurisdictions have advanced from the “Research” phase to the “Development” phase.
