> PIX will not be a service to end-users, it'll create a standard where any service can offer instant payments and transfers.

Great. If that "standard" is something people want, it'll be able to succeed on its own merits, without having to block the competition.

What happens when someone wants to create something new and interesting that isn't supported by the "standard"? What happens when that standard lacks features people actually want? The danger of forcing everything to use a single underlying framework is that you prevent anyone from being able to do better and improve.

Sure, that's why I used the term "solution". I understand that PIX will be better than what we have today, but there's no reason to block other players and don't allow them to create their own payment solutions or products, based or not on PIX.

Sure there is. The government has the responsibility to create a free market. If a proprietary standard wins, you have a monopoly without competition. If the government standard wins that enables interoperability, no company can block other competitors.

Europe did the same and it worked.

> If a proprietary standard wins, you have a monopoly without competition

Maybe they should make their government standard good enough that it wins on its own merit then. Imo, the biggest thing this block does is essentially giving the government standard a license be as subpar as they want, because it isn't like a superior non-government standard is even allowed to compete with it anyway.

Ah, I see. There are a few banks that can decide to adopt or not a standard. Yeah, taking the choice from the government to those banks will certainly make everything better.

I don't think the Brazilian government has this responsibility as it is the most at fault for Brazil's lacking free market.

Maybe when it becomes a champion on that, removing barriers of entry, protectionism, subsidies and it's public companies monopolies, then it can be a fair judge on this issue.

What stops the government from abusing this standard to impose arbitrary restrictions on spending?

Nothing that cannot also be applied to Facebook.

The Brazilian Central Bank has authority on money transfers, so whatever regulation they want to arbitrarily impose regarding this matter, they can do.

Facebook is a registered company in Brazil, they were going to operate the payments platform through a card processor, etc, so directly or indirectly they are under the authority of the Central Bank.

EDIT: by the way, regular banks and fintechs already have to be a participant in the Central Bank's payments system in order to settle funds. PIX is (also) a 24x7 implementation of the existing electronic money transfer system which only is available on working days.

Facebook is a very unique position here, don't play it as "free market" when one player has control over more than 50% of the messaging communication going on in Brazil, Bacen is blocking the current implementation of WhatsApp Pay, doesn't mean if they integrate with PIX they won't be allowed. If they don't integrate with PIX then it's quite easy, given their position, to force users to stay only inside their platform, with PIX they are allowed to participate in the larger ecosystem, it's a better solution for all.

There is no competition when network effects take hold and create a de facto monopoly, like with messaging apps.

Facebook a multi hundred billion $ company vs much smaller companies in Brazil. I would think that the government here did the right thing. Let your home grown companies grow first, then let them compete openly with foreign companies.

If companies are people, then companies in many 3rd world countries are children. You don't let adults hit children until they grow to be adults.