Digitalization and tokenization mark discussions at StartSe Payment Revolution Day 2025

On Wednesday (09/24), financial sector experts and executives gathered at the Anhembi District in São Paulo for the StartSe Payment Revolution 2025, an event about the future of payment methods in Brazil. Throughout ten hours of immersive programming, the debates highlighted that we are experiencing the greatest transformation since the emergence of physical money. Digitalization, tokenization, and the integration of different methods are reshaping both the consumer experience and corporate operations, although barriers still need to be overcome for this ecosystem to become fully fluid.

Um dos destaques foi a palestra “From Real to Digital: The Impact of Drex, Bitcoin, and Blockchain”, led by Lia Maura de Freitas, IT Solutions Manager at Banco do Brasil. “Tokenization brings the democratization of the financial system by allowing the fractionalization of assets, such as securities and real estate, making them accessible to a much larger audience. High-value investments, once restricted to a few, become viable when divided into smaller parts. A security worth R$ 1 million, for example, can be transformed into a thousand shares of R$ 1,000, broadening market access. It is estimated that by 2030, tokenization will represent up to 10% of the global GDP, which reinforces the importance of keeping up with this trend and rethinking our business models,” she emphasized.

Another highlight was the presentation “Stablecoins and Tokenization in the Capital Market”, with Eric Altafim, Director of Products and Corporate Sales at Itaú Unibanco. “Today, 99% of the stablecoin market is backed by the US dollar, concentrated among three major issuers, and already moves between 270 and 280 billion dollars, a growth of 30% just this year. The projection is that by 2030, approximately 10% of the global payments market, which currently totals around 200 trillion dollars, will be transacted using stablecoins,” he explained. The executive also highlighted the outlook for Brazil: “When we look at the country, Drex is expected to play an important role in this advancement, but the Central Bank's withdrawal from blockchain technology opens space for other Brazilian Real-denominated stablecoins to establish themselves. This will be an essential step to enable the tokenization of assets and keep pace with the transformation already happening on a global scale.”

In the afternoon, we had “The Invisible Barrier: Navigating the Brazilian Payments Landscape”, presented by Nathan Marion, Senior Director at NuPay. “We had a piece of data that surprised us a lot: NuPay payments in retail have a 23 percentage points higher approval rate than those made with credit cards. However, our goal is not to replace other payment methods, but to improve the existing process, reducing inefficiencies such as fraud, invalid cards, and lack of available credit, making the experience more fluid for both the customer and the merchant,” stated Marion.

He further emphasized the impacts of so-called invisible barriers. “These are frictions that the consumer doesn't see, but which represent huge losses for the market. At Nubank, we managed to increase customers” purchasing power with features like additional credit limit and emergency credit, which have already prevented up to 68% of a major retailer's sales from being lost. This shows that it is possible to combine experience and performance, reducing losses and increasing conversion."

A palestra “The Future of Payments: Mastercard's Vision for the Next 5-10 Years”, led by Mario Rocha, Director of Products and Solutions for SMEs and B2B at Mastercard Brazil, brought perspectives for the corporate sector. “B2B payments have always existed, but what changes and leads us into the future is how they happen. And Brazil is already in this future: about 90% of companies have a business account and adopt digital management tools, which gives us an advantage compared to similar countries, such as Mexico, where 90% of transactions are still in cash. This degree of digitalization creates unique conditions to accelerate the transformation in corporate payments,” said Rocha.

To conclude, the executive highlighted the technologies that should drive this change. “Solutions like virtual cards (VCNs) and integration via APIs are set to gain increasing traction, bringing automation, control, and efficiency to companies of all sizes. The future of B2B payments is bright, and the opportunity lies in transforming manual and complex processes into safer, faster, and more scalable digital operations.”

The event also featured the participation of Gustavo Carvalho, Executive Director of Value Added Services at Visa Brazil, who evaluated the meeting positively. “It was a very enriching experience to participate in the StartSe Payment Revolution this year. We had access to relevant content, diverse insights, and also the opportunity to engage in high-level networking with the participants. I thank you for the invitation and hope to continue contributing in the coming years. It is always a pleasure to discuss topics such as fraud prevention and cybersecurity, which require constant collaboration. This exchange of information is essential for the entire ecosystem to be more protected.”

In the end, the Payment Revolution Day 2025 reaffirmed the role of StartSe and its events as platforms connecting global trends with the Brazilian reality. More than just presenting new technologies, the meeting made it clear that the revolution in payment methods is already underway. For companies and consumers, the challenge is not just to keep up, but to lead this transformation, because in an increasingly digital world, those who master the payment infrastructure will hold one of the key levers for competitiveness and growth.