#162: Drex Without Blockchain? Exploring the Road Ahead with Gustavo Cunha and Marcos Sarres

Aug 20, 2025

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Brazil's Central Bank shocked the market by removing blockchain from its signature Drex CBDC project and pivoting to a simpler vision. After driving Brazil's blockchain adoption for years, is this a rug pull or an opportunity for private sector leadership?

Host Aaron Stanley is joined by Gustavo Cunha (Fintrender CEO, former banking executive) and Marcos Sarres (GoLedger CEO, Hyperledger specialist) to unpack this pivotal moment.

We explore why Ethereum's privacy challenges, extended development timelines, and multi-bank coordination proved too complex, plus the broader factors including US stablecoin trends and Central Bank leadership changes.

Despite the apparent setback, DREX transformed Brazil's financial landscape - major banks now have 20-30 person blockchain teams and multiple tokenization projects are launching. The key question: who will fill the leadership vacuum and drive Brazil's tokenized future forward?

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