Pix payments
Pix payments allow international digital merchants to reach millions of Brazilian consumers through instant, irrevocable bank transfers. Cardflo orchestrates these transactions, managing dynamic QR code generation and cross-border settlement to optimise the checkout experience in Latin America's largest market.
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International merchants expanding into Brazil face a market dominated by domestic mobile banking and high cross-border friction. Providing an efficient, localised checkout requires generating precise payment strings in real time and handling instant notifications to release goods without exposing the operation to high decline rates or domestic settlement delays.
Cardflo integrates cross-border Pix payments into a unified global gateway, routing transactions to specialist acquirer partners. The platform automatically generates dynamic QR codes and Pix copy-and-paste strings at checkout, reconciling instant confirmations from the Central Bank of Brazil so merchants can fulfil digital and physical orders immediately.
Accessing instant bank transfers via Cardflo's acquirer partners in Brazil boosts Pix payment approval rates and speeds up settlement. This directly enhances conversion and cash flow for merchants targeting the Brazilian market.
Pix payments overview
Accepting Brazilian instant payments requires an orchestration layer that handles the specific technical flows of the Central Bank of Brazil's SPI infrastructure. Cardflo manages this complex integration, allowing international operators to display dynamic Pix QR codes or numeric strings to users on mobile and desktop devices.
The platform listens for instant, final payment webhooks, triggering immediate order confirmation and mitigating the chargeback risks associated with traditional cross-border methods. While Cardflo orchestrates these transfers natively, merchants looking to expand their checkout beyond Brazil should explore local payment methods for broader regional coverage or alternative payment methods for a global view.
For Pix, the gateway standardises the connection to regulated Brazilian exchange partners, ensuring funds clear domestically before settling securely to the merchant's international accounts without requiring a local corporate entity.
How pix payments works
Dynamic payload generation
The checkout requests a unique payment payload from the Cardflo API. The orchestration layer communicates with a regulated Brazilian exchange partner to generate a dynamic Pix QR code and an equivalent copy-and-paste text string. The merchant presents these options to the buyer, ensuring compatibility across both desktop monitors and mobile screens for direct interaction with local banking apps.
Customer app authentication
The buyer scans the code or pastes the string into their Brazilian banking application. The app decodes the payload, retrieving the exact transaction value and merchant details directly from the central bank infrastructure. The user then authenticates the transfer using their standard biometric or password credentials, officially authorising an irrevocable, real-time push payment from their domestic account in Brazilian Reais.
Instant confirmation and settlement
The Central Bank of Brazil clears the funds and sends a final confirmation status to the local partner, which relays the webhook to Cardflo. The orchestration platform updates the merchant's system instantly to release the order. The accumulated Brazilian Reais are then converted and settled cross-border to the merchant according to their international payout schedule.
Why pix payments matters
Accessing the unbanked consumer base
A significant portion of the Brazilian market operates without international credit facilities but possesses domestic bank accounts connected to mobile devices. Accepting these instant transfers captures volume from consumers who would otherwise abandon the checkout. Merchants secure broader market penetration without relying on legacy voucher systems or establishing domestic acquiring entities.
Eliminating cross-border chargeback risk
Because the transaction functions as a push payment authenticated directly within the user's banking application, the funds are irrevocable once cleared by the central bank. International operators avoid the high fraud rates and complex dispute processes that typically accompany cross-border card transactions in the Latin American market, securing guaranteed revenue.
Regulatory notes for pix payments
Central Bank of Brazil scheme rules
The Central Bank of Brazil, Banco Central do Brasil, dictates strict operational and technical guidelines for participation in its instant payment ecosystem.
All transactions must flow through the Sistema de Pagamentos Instantâneos, requiring precise payload formatting and strict adherence to mandated response times for webhooks and API calls.
Regulated exchange partners facilitate cross-border volume under specific foreign exchange regulations.
Merchants must pass accurate consumer identification data, often including the Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas number, in the transaction payload to satisfy local anti-money laundering and tax reporting requirements before funds can clear the domestic banking perimeter.
Cross-border foreign exchange compliance
Repatriating domestic Brazilian transactions into foreign currencies is governed closely by international exchange controls.
Regulated local partners act as the foreign exchange broker, capturing the exact exchange rate at the time of the transaction to guarantee the merchant's final settlement amount in their chosen fiat currency.
To comply with these exchange mandates, all cross-border flows must be properly documented and reported to local authorities.
Cardflo orchestrates this data transfer automatically, ensuring that the local exchange partner receives the necessary order details and consumer identification required to authorise the conversion and execute the international settlement without manual intervention.
Pix payments use cases
Dynamic Pix checkout codes
Brazilian shoppers receive a dynamic Pix QR code carrying the exact order value and unique transaction reference, avoiding manual amount entry and ambiguous payment matching. Cardflo generates the code through its gateway orchestration and relays confirmed payment status to the merchant’s order system before fulfilment begins.
Static Pix key reconciliation
Merchants displaying a reusable static Pix key may receive transfers without an order-specific reference, making payer identification and ledger reconciliation difficult. Cardflo helps structure the collection workflow, capture available transaction identifiers and route confirmation data into reporting so finance teams can investigate unmatched receipts.
Mobile Pix app handoff
Brazilian consumers shopping on mobile need to move from checkout into their banking application without scanning a QR code shown on the same device. Cardflo supports copy-and-paste Pix payment strings and app-compatible handoff flows, then returns the payment confirmation to the merchant’s checkout and fulfilment systems.
Cross-border Pix settlement
International merchants accepting Pix collect Brazilian real from local consumers but may require settlement into an account and currency supported by their overseas finance operation. Cardflo connects the payment flow through suitable regulated acquirer partners and provides transaction reporting that links Brazilian collections, conversion and settlement records.
Pix payments by the numbers
This reflects the typical success range for push-payments in Brazil where funds are verified instantly, compared to lower rates for international card processing.
This refers to the industry-standard time for the Central Bank of Brazil to move funds between participating financial institutions within the SPI network.
Merchants often observe this range of reduction in processing fees when shifting volume from domestic credit cards to Pix, depending on their existing interchange profile.
Methodology: these figures are illustrative ranges drawn from published industry data and observed merchant cohorts, not guarantees. Actual results depend on your risk profile, card mix, geography and acquiring setup, and are confirmed only in your own pricing and approval terms.
Related terms
Talk to our team about a live rollout across our acquirer partners' rails.
What you get with Pix payments
- Dynamic QR code generation to present unique, time-sensitive checkout payloads directly on desktop screens.
- Pix copy-and-paste string formatting for frictionless mobile checkouts where customers switch between apps.
- Cross-border Pix settlement routing to repatriate Brazilian Reais into major fiat currencies automatically.
- Real-time webhook notifications from the Brazilian central bank system to trigger immediate order fulfilment.
- Intelligent timeout management to expire uncompleted Pix transactions and release held merchant inventory automatically.
- Irrevocable push-payment flows that eliminate the risk of traditional chargebacks on completed Brazilian orders.
A short scoping call, then a written plan for your MIDs.
Questions about Pix payments
How does a dynamic Pix QR code differ from a static one?
A dynamic QR code contains unique transaction data, including the exact purchase amount, order identifier and a strict expiration timeframe. When the user scans it, their banking app locks in the correct value, preventing underpayments or manual entry errors.
Static codes only contain the merchant's receiving address, requiring the user to type in the amount themselves. Cardflo orchestrates dynamic payload generation for all e-commerce transactions, ensuring that every payment correctly matches the order value for automated, error-free reconciliation.
What happens when a Pix payment expires before completion?
Dynamic payloads are generated with a specific lifespan, typically ranging from a few minutes to a few hours depending on the merchant's configuration.
If the customer fails to authenticate the transfer within their banking app before this window closes, the central bank infrastructure rejects any subsequent payment attempts.
Cardflo receives a timeout notification and updates the transaction status, allowing the merchant's backend to automatically release the held inventory or prompt the user to generate a new checkout payload.
Do international merchants need a Brazilian entity to accept Pix?
Merchants do not need to establish a local corporate entity or domestic bank account to accept these payments. Cardflo connects operators with regulated exchange partners who collect the Brazilian Reais locally via the central bank network.
These partners then perform the necessary foreign exchange conversions and settle the funds cross-border into the merchant's international bank accounts. This orchestration model provides full access to the Brazilian consumer base while keeping the merchant's legal and financial operations consolidated in their home jurisdiction.
How are refunds processed for irrevocable push payments?
While the initial transaction is an irrevocable push payment from the consumer, the central bank infrastructure supports a specialised refund mechanism. Merchants can initiate a return through the Cardflo API, which routes the request to the local exchange partner.
The partner then executes a reverse transfer back to the original consumer's bank account. This automated refund flow maintains compliance with local consumer protection laws while keeping the transaction lifecycle fully contained within the orchestration platform's reporting tools.
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From the blog
A merchant acquirer is a licensed bank that holds your account, takes liability for transactions, and settles funds. The payment processor is the technology layer routing data between the checkout, card networks, and issuing banks. Every card payment requires both components to manage technical encryption and financial liability. They are often separate entities with distinct fee structures.
Read articleA merchant acquirer is a financial institution that processes card transactions and verifies funds. The payment gateway acts as the technological bridge, encrypting sensitive data between the website and the acquirer. Merchants need both components to ensure that electronic payments are accepted, authorised, and settled. Together, they create a seamless and secure payment experience for customers.
Read articleA merchant account is a specialised business account used to accept electronic payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay. It acts as a bridge between the business and the customer bank. Funds are held here for verification and compliance before being transferred to a main bank account. This process ensures that all transactions are secure and reduces the risk of fraud for the merchant and the customer.
Read articleReady to improve your payments setup?
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