Customers of several Brazilian banks reported instability with Pix, the instant-payment system operated by the country's Central Bank, on Sunday morning (August 23). In a statement, the monetary authority confirmed the outage and said its systems had been restored, with the service running normally.

According to G1, the outage-tracking platform Downdetector had logged 2,431 reports of problems with Pix by 8:30 a.m. By 10:50 a.m., that number had fallen to 117, pointing to a gradual recovery over the course of the morning.

In its statement, the Central Bank explained what happened:

"On Sunday morning, the Central Bank's technical team identified an instability in the Pix systems, which caused difficulties in processing transactions in the early hours of the day. The systems were promptly restored and Pix is working normally."

The banks named by users on Downdetector and on the social network X include Bradesco, Caixa Econômica Federal, C6, Inter, Itaú, Nubank and Santander, according to G1.

The Central Bank did not disclose the cause of the instability. Financial news site Valor Investe also reported that the system had been restored, citing the bank's statement. Launched by the Central Bank in 2020, Pix has become Brazil's most widely used payment method — for person-to-person transfers and merchant payments alike — which means any disruption is felt immediately in shops and in consumers' daily routines.