For an exchange looking to serve Brazilian users, offering a local payment experience is an important part of the operation. This means allowing users to deposit Brazilian reais, buy digital assets, sell their assets, and receive their money back in BRL.
Pix makes this journey easier because it is already part of everyday financial transactions in Brazil. However, integrating this payment method is only one part of the infrastructure required. The exchange also needs to connect payments, liquidity, conversion between reais and digital assets, settlement, and compliance.
For international exchanges, one alternative is to use specialized financial infrastructure instead of developing each of these components in-house.
In this article, you will learn how this operation works and what to consider when choosing a partner to offer BRL deposits and withdrawals.
Why offer a local experience?
Imagine a Brazilian user who needs to send money to another country before buying a cryptocurrency or who has difficulty receiving their reais after selling a digital asset.
Each additional step can make the experience more complicated.
By adapting its operation to the Brazilian market, an exchange can allow users to:
deposit reais directly into the platform;
buy digital assets using BRL;
sell their assets and receive the funds in reais;
use Pix to move money.
This allows users to complete the main steps of their financial journey using a currency and payment method they already know.
How does the deposit and withdrawal flow work?
The financial journey of an exchange operating in reais involves several steps, from bringing local currency into the platform to withdrawing funds.
1. BRL deposit
The user sends reais to the exchange, usually using Pix.
Once the payment is confirmed and settled, the funds can be made available to purchase digital assets.
This process is known as fiat on-ramp, which means bringing a fiat currency, such as the Brazilian real, into the digital asset ecosystem.
User → Pix → confirmation → BRL balance → asset purchase
For this to happen automatically, the infrastructure needs to identify the payment and correctly link it to the user's account.
2. Buying and selling digital assets
With a BRL balance available, the user can buy cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, or other digital assets offered by the exchange.
The platform needs to record these transactions and connect the BRL balance to the corresponding purchase or sale.
3. Converting assets back to reais
When the user wants to withdraw funds, they sell their digital assets and request the conversion of the amount into reais.
This process is known as fiat off-ramp, meaning the conversion of digital assets back into fiat currency.
4. Pix withdrawal
After the conversion and settlement, the reais are sent to the user's bank account or Pix key.
Asset sale → BRL conversion → settlement → Pix → user
For this flow to be fast and predictable, its different components need to work together.
What is needed to offer Pix through an exchange?
For the user, making a deposit or withdrawal may take only a few seconds. Behind the scenes, however, different systems need to work together.
A Pix operation for exchanges may involve:
deposit and withdrawal processing;
BRL accounts and settlement;
BRL liquidity;
conversion between fiat currency and digital assets;
API integration;
transaction monitoring;
compliance processes.
This infrastructure becomes even more important as the exchange grows. A platform with thousands of users may have deposits, purchases, sales, and withdrawals happening at the same time.
That is why it is not enough to evaluate the Pix integration alone. The exchange needs to consider the entire infrastructure supporting the movement of funds.
Why is BRL liquidity important?
Liquidity is the availability of funds needed to complete a transaction.
For an exchange serving Brazilian users, access to reais is important for maintaining the flow between deposits, conversions, and withdrawals.
Imagine that many users sell digital assets at the same time and request withdrawals in reais. The exchange needs to have enough funds available to process those payments.
An adequate liquidity structure can help:
handle periods of higher demand;
reduce payment delays;
increase withdrawal predictability;
simplify the exchange's financial management.
For this reason, the ability to provide BRL liquidity should be part of the evaluation when choosing a financial infrastructure partner.
How can blockchain and stablecoins complement the operation?
Not every step of the process needs to use the same financial system. Users can move reais through Brazil's financial system while other parts of the operation use blockchain.
Stablecoins can work as a complementary layer for certain settlement flows between companies, institutions, and markets.
In Brazil, BRZ represents the Brazilian real on blockchain and can be used in BRL-denominated operations within the digital asset ecosystem.
For international operations, stablecoins such as USDC, USDT, and EURC can also be used in certain flows between currencies and markets.
Different technologies can therefore serve different purposes:
Pix → movement of reais within Brazil's financial system
Stablecoins → certain settlement flows between markets
The appropriate solution depends on the characteristics of each operation and the applicable rules.
Simplify your exchange operations with Transfero's infrastructure
Offering BRL deposits and withdrawals is one of the first steps for an exchange entering the Brazilian market. To create a local experience, however, the operation needs to connect Pix, liquidity, conversion, settlement, technology, and compliance.
Instead of developing each component in-house, an exchange can work with a specialized partner and integrate these services into its own platform.
Transfero connects exchanges to Brazil's financial system and brings together resources to support different stages of the operation, including:
Pix deposits and withdrawals;
BRL accounts;
BRL liquidity;
on-ramp and off-ramp;
stablecoin integration;
APIs for automation;
compliance and monitoring.
By integrating these resources into its platform, an exchange can offer users a simpler way to move reais and digital assets in Brazil without having to build the entire financial infrastructure internally.
Learn more about Transfero's solution and discover how to simplify your exchange operations in the Brazilian market.
