How to Turn Gift Cards Into PIX Reais (Brazil Guide)

PIX is a central-bank rail: it runs 24/7, settles in seconds, and costs nothing for individuals to receive. That means a gift card sold at 1am on a Sunday can be reais in your Nubank account before you close the tab. No other LatAm market has anything this good — Mexico's SPEI is close, Colombia's Nequi is minutes rather than seconds.

• CPF — most reliable, always resolves, best for larger amounts.
• Phone or e-mail key — equally fast, fine for routine payouts.
• Random key (chave aleatória) — good if you'd rather not expose your CPF.
• CNPJ — use this if you invoice as a MEI or company; it keeps business and personal flows separate.

Whichever you pick, we resolve the holder name from the key and show it before releasing anything. Confirm it matches you.

Brazilian banks apply a reduced PIX ceiling between 8pm and 6am — often R$1,000 — as an anti-kidnapping measure. It's set by your bank, not by us. If your payout exceeds it overnight, we split it, hold the excess at the locked rate until the morning window, or route it over TED instead. You always get the full amount; you just may get it in two parts.

Every payout carries the PIX end-to-end ID plus a statement showing the USD source amount and the exact rate applied. If you declare freelance income — and as MEI you should — that pair of documents is what your accountant needs. Nothing about the flow is informal.

If the money is for this month's expenses, take reais. If you're saving, consider USDT instead: the dollar value lands on-chain in seconds, and you convert to reais later over PIX at a moment you choose rather than the moment the card sold.