Tony Volpon, a former director of Brazil’s central bank, announced BRD, a yield-sharing stablecoin tied to the Brazilian currency and backed by Brazilian government debt.
Speaking on CNN Brazil’s “Crypto na Real” show, Volpón said the token is backed by government bonds and aims to tie its value to sovereign bonds and provide holders with exposure to local interest rates. The central bank’s policy rate is 15%, and the US Federal Reserve’s target is 3.5-3.75%.
Volpon said the goal is to make Brazil’s high-yield environment more accessible to foreign investors. He said Brazil’s interest rates have long attracted international attention, but access to these benefits is often restricted by regulation, currency frictions and domestic infrastructure.
“Being able to reward stablecoin holders with the interest rates offered by Brazil is clearly going to be a big draw, especially for institutional investors,” Volpon said on the show.
The former central bank official also suggested that stablecoins could support the country’s debt needs and lower borrowing costs by expanding the investor base.
BRD will enter a market dominated by Transfero’s BRZ, which has a market capitalization of $185 million. Other competitors include BBRL, which has a market capitalization of $51 million, as well as smaller token BRL1, which is backed by a group that includes Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin, Bitso, and Celo blockchain native cREAL.
BRD seeks to position itself as the first real-pegged token that explicitly structures the token to share government debt-backed yield with holders.
But it’s not alone. Brazilian startup Crown raised $13.5 million in a Paradigm-led Series A round in December for similar yield token BRLV. According to its dedicated website, this token has around $19 million worth of reals in circulation. The contract address listed indicates that there are only two owners.
