Moedas digitais, blockchain e inclusão financeira uma análise comparativa entre TradFi e DeFi

Abstract

This dissertation examines recent changes in the financial system by exploring two concurrent and conflicting dynamics. On the one hand, it examines the modernization of the traditional financial system TradFi, highlighting how upgrades to payment and settlement rails especially Pix have reshaped Brazil’s transfer infrastructure by reducing frictions related to cost, time, and availability, expanding the reach of digital payments, and creating more favorable conditions for financial inclusion through broader access to and more frequent use of basic financial services. Within this institutional modernization trajectory, the study discusses Drex as the central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative designed to test new technical capabilities such as programmability and integration with tokenization while preserving governance, compliance, and security requirements typically associated with public money and critical TradFi infrastructures. On the other hand, the dissertation positions DeFi as a rupture point; a blockchain-native financial arrangement in which coded rules and smart contracts enable transfers and financial services to operate on programmable rails, partially outside traditional infrastructures and intermediation. The analysis argues that this rupture affects the system’s architecture; custody, settlement, governance, and risk management, shifting part of trust to protocols and introducing challenges related to user protection, accountability, and stability. Methodologically, the research is descriptive-exploratory, with a qualitative and documentary approach, combining a systematic literature review with the analysis of institutional documents and technical reports. The study concludes by synthesizing convergences and divergences between TradFi and DeFi from a financial inclusion perspective, indicating that efficiency and access gains depend on institutional, regulatory, and technological conditions, as well as trade-offs among interoperability, security, and governance