Rocelo Lopes says that Bitfinex has exclusivity on Swapix until August. Photo: Smartpay.
Rocelo Lopes, one of the best-known names in the cryptocurrency segment in Brazil, is launching Swapix , tool for exchanging stablecoin (stable currency) for real using Pix’s API (Application Programming Interface). It is a B2B tool and the first customer is Bitfinex, which will offer access to customers in Brazil using the solution exclusively until August. “This is blockchain with blockchain,” the founder and CEO of Smartpay, the company that created the solution, told Blocknews.
Lopes told Blocknews that the idea for the product started when Bitfinex, at Labitconf in El Salvador last November, asked how it could operate in Brazil without being here. The solution he found was Swapix, which had its first version ready in four months and which makes the connection between the parties in the transaction. Today, operations are carried out through the Smartpay website. But the new version should be ready in August and allow transactions through the Pix app, says Rocelo.
Due to the ease of use, the creator of the solution believes that other brokers will operate in Brazil without having to have a physical structure here. It would thus be a different strategy for companies like Bitso, Crypto.com, and apparently Coinbase, to have a local operation. However, Lopes is eyeing all crypto exchanges, based here or abroad, to use the service.
The first stablecoin that users will be able to use is Tether – in five versions, such as Tether dollar and euro – , the currency of Bitfinex. But then BRZ, Transfero’s BRL-backed stablecoin, and bluea token backed by 14 digital currencies that also belongs to Lopes.
Bitfinex will have exclusivity until August
The use of stablecoins is to lessen the risk of volatility that unbacked cryptos have. Since the operation can last a few seconds – in the second version, Rocelo says it will take about 6 seconds – changes in quotes can affect the user’s pocket. In the current version, switching takes around 1.5 minutes. The cost of transactions is BRL 1 plus 1% of the transaction value.
Lopes says that I study Pix’s operating rules in detail, to ensure that the product complies with this regulation. The Central Bank has always said that Pix was one of the steps on the path that will lead to the digital real. Its easy usage, similar to a peer-to-peer (P2P), one of the characteristics of crypto transactions, can have a positive effect on users who want to enter the digital currency segment, says Smartpay CEO.
The idea is that Swapix is ​​the first of other solutions that the company wants to do in the future. Initially created to be a digital wallet, Smartpay makes money transfers, crypto transactions, mobile top-ups, ATM withdrawals and payments with QR Codes and boletos.
Lopes explained that in Swapix, the user uses his account at the brokerage, therefore, he does not need to have one for the service. When entering the site to convert a value from real to stablecoin, it sends a message with the value and address of the Tether wallet. The tool sends the data to the exchange, which deposits the stablecoins.
In the opposite direction, someone sends the tether data and the Pix key of who will receive the real ones. And the broker sends the value via Pix. The Know Your Client (KYC) processes are therefore in charge of financial institutions and brokers.
Tether is the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap at $84.5 billion. But Tether and Bitfinex were the subject of investigations in the United States (USA) regarding the veracity of the tether cryptocurrency Tether dollar (USDT) in dollar.
In October 2021, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined them more than $42 million for giving false information about USDT and Bitfinex by $1, 5 million for dealing in products for which he had no authorization.
In February 2021, the two struck an $18.5 million settlement with the New York Attorney General’s Office to settle a case in which the exchange was accused of misusing Tether funds for a period. So she didn’t have the ballast she claimed to have.
Bitfinex also suffered one of the biggest hacker attacks in the crypto world. In 2016, the theft was 119,756 bitcoins (about $5.75 billion at today’s price). And last February, the United States Justice announced the arrest of a couple in connection with the theft and the recovery of 90 thousand bitcoins.