Pix in Brazil 2026: new limit rules and betting payment monitoring

Autumn 2026 brought Brazilian merchants two changes that affect how they accept Pix. The first is technical: the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) revised the rules on Pix transaction limits. The second is industry-specific: the Ministry of Finance's Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) now requires financial and payment institutions to monitor payments to unlicensed bookmakers and block the accounts involved. Here is what changed and what to check if you accept Pix in e-commerce, gaming or betting.

What IN BCB No. 746 changes in Pix limits

Normative instruction IN BCB No. 746 was published on 16 June 2026 (in the DOU official gazette on 17 June) and took effect on 1 October 2026. It does not rewrite the rules from scratch. Instead, it amends IN BCB No. 512/2024, the instruction that sets value limits for Pix transactions. According to an analysis of the rule, two provisions were changed and three were revoked.

What was revoked:

• Separate limits for contactless (NFC) Pix. Payments initiated by tapping used to follow their own limit logic. That provision and the dedicated article on it (art. 16-A) are gone.
• Maximum limits for "sharing without redirection" (art. 16-C), the flow where a payment is initiated without sending the user to their banking app.

What was changed:

• Limit management for Pix Automático (recurring debits authorised by the payer) is now explicitly listed among the limits a participant manages.
• The registration of receiving accounts and users that can get specific daily limits is now singled out.
• The payer's institution may, at its own discretion, accept a request to raise a Pix Automático limit.

IN 746 itself does not set any amounts. Limit values still come from IN 512/2024 and from each customer's bank settings.

Why Pix declines may rise after 1 October

For a seller, Pix limits are not an abstraction. They are a reason payments fail at checkout. When a buyer hits a daily or night-time limit, the payment simply does not go through and the merchant sees an abandoned cart. The new rules give participating banks more flexibility over Pix Automático limits and limits for registered recipients.

In practice:

• Subscriptions and recurring billing. If you use Pix Automático, large debits may run into a limit that the customer's bank raises only at its discretion. Show buyers a clear message explaining how to raise the limit in their bank.
• Contactless Pix. Dedicated NFC limit rules no longer apply, so these payments now follow the general rules. Ask your PSP whether your payment flow behaves differently since 1 October.
• Decline analytics. Compare the share of declined Pix payments in September and October. If it went up, limits on the payer's bank side may be the cause.

Ordinance SPA/MF No. 2,750/2026: payment monitoring in betting

The second change concerns the betting market. On 10 September 2026 the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting adopted Ordinance SPA/MF No. 2,750/2026; according to Digital Policy Alert, it entered into force on 14 September. It sets procedures for financial institutions, payment institutions and payment arrangement institutions to prevent, identify and act against payments to unlicensed fixed-odds betting operators.

The ordinance names two tools in its title: payment transaction monitoring and account blocking. Digital payment providers, including crypto providers, are in scope. Detailed monitoring criteria and response times are in the full text published in the DOU, so check them with a lawyer before you launch traffic.

Who is affected

• Licensed operators, indirectly: banks and PSPs will screen payment recipients more strictly, so licence documents and correct Pix recipient data become a standard part of onboarding.
• Unlicensed projects, directly: the risk of having deposit accounts blocked has grown considerably.
• Adjacent verticals (gaming, high-risk), through stricter KYC at payment partners.

Q4 checklist for merchants

1. Ask your PSP how limits for Pix Automático and contactless flows changed after 1 October.
2. Add a hint to your checkout explaining what to do if the bank declines a payment because of a limit.
3. For betting and iGaming, prepare proof of licence and make sure the Pix recipient matches the legal entity on the licence.
4. Keep a fallback: cards or a second PSP with Pix support in case of blocks or rising declines.

Which merchants should act now

Pix remains the main way to pay in Brazil, but the rules around it are getting stricter and, at the same time, more flexible for banks. For regular e-commerce merchants, checking limits and decline messages is enough. For projects in betting and iGaming, the bigger issue is different: without a licence and a transparent recipient structure, accepting Pix is getting riskier.

To find providers with Pix support that fit your profile, see our page on payment methods in Brazil. Submit a request and we will suggest suitable positions from our catalog.

This article was prepared by the PayFlow editorial team with the help of AI, based on the public sources listed above. It is for information only and is not legal or financial advice; provider terms change — check current terms with an operator.