> Is it safe?

Given the dimension of Pix, I never heard of someone losing money directly because of using it (for example, here in the past was common to see where credit cards were cloned)

> can someone be coerced into emptying their bank account at knifepoint?

There are limits of use. Banks have different settings for limiting the amount of money that will be transferred in different situations, like when using their apps outside a trusted network, at night, etc

> Are there scams?

Just like any other payment method. I dare say that it is even safer, as some banks (e.g. Nubank) alerts if you are trying to transfer money to a suspect account.

> Can stolen money be retrieved?

Perhaps if you contact the bank, but as far as I know it is not a feature :-(

> Perhaps if you contact the bank, but as far as I know it is not a feature :-( Acctually there is a feature to request the central bank to retrieve money stolen through PIX scam. It is called Special Return Mechanism (MED PIX). Link here: https://www.bcb.gov.br/meubc/faqs/p/o-que-e-e-como-funciona-...

Thanks for your information!

Presumably it has the same simple safeguards that a US system like Zelle or Venmo have. I needed to pay my sister-in-law $1300 the other day, and forgot that I have a $500/day transaction limit in place for such transfers, at my own choosing (setup when I opened the account).

Yeah Pix lets you choose limits. There's decent granularity for those, you can pick max $ per day, per transfer, per period, and per device. There's a caveat that when you increase a limit it takes a day or two to come into effect (basically to avoid people being forced to increase their limits by criminals).

I thought zelle was riddled with fraud?

Perhaps. I use it to get cash to family members, no issues.

what system protects you from being coerced at knife point?

Writing a personal check? Stolen cellphone?

Cryptocurrencies are full of scams because you can't put the money back, and some are anonymous.