What details do you need to pay someone in Brazil or Mexico? Pix keys, CPF, and CLABE

What a payout to Brazil or Mexico needs from the recipient: Pix key types, CPF and CNPJ formats, the 18-digit CLABE, and the checks that stop a bad payout.

To pay someone in Brazil, you need their full name and a Pix key: a CPF, CNPJ, mobile number, email, or random key. Without a key, you need their CPF or CNPJ plus the bank code, branch, and account number. To pay someone in Mexico, you need their name and an 18-digit CLABE. Validate every identifier when you save it, before the first payout.

That's the whole list. Most failed payouts to Latin America don't fail because of the stablecoin. They fail on one digit.

What do you need to pay someone in Brazil?

A name and one of three sets of details, depending on the rail.

RailWhat you collectWhen to use it
Pix by keyAccount holder's name, Pix keyThe default. Instant, 24/7
Pix by bank detailsName, CPF or CNPJ, bank ISPB code, branch, account number with check digit, account typeThe recipient has no Pix key, or you want to pay one specific account
TEDName, CPF or CNPJ, bank COMPE code, branch, account number with check digit, account typeOlder bank transfer rail. Settles the same banking day if sent before the cut-off

Pix is Brazil's instant payment system, run by the Banco Central do Brasil since November 2020. It settles in seconds and runs 24/7, including weekends and holidays. TED doesn't. A TED sent after the end of the Brazilian banking day waits for the next one, which can push it past a weekend.

What are the five types of Pix key?

Key typeFormatBelongs to
CPF11 digits, written 000.000.000-00An individual
CNPJ14 characters, written 00.000.000/0000-00A company
Mobile number+55, area code, numberWhoever registered it
EmailA regular email addressWhoever registered it
Random keyA long code the bank generatesWhoever registered it, with no personal data exposed

Under the Central Bank's rules, an individual can register up to 5 keys per account and a company up to 20. Each key points to one account at a time.

Keys move. A recipient can delete a key or port it to a different bank, so a phone key that paid the right account in March can point somewhere else in September. When a recipient says they changed banks, ask for the key again.

When a person pays a Pix key in a banking app, the app shows the recipient's name and part of their tax number before they confirm. An automated payout has no one looking at that screen. Collect the account holder's legal name up front and treat a mismatch as a reason to stop, not a reason to retry.

How are CPF and CNPJ numbers built?

A CPF has 11 digits. The last two are check digits calculated from the first nine, so a random typo fails validation.

A CNPJ has 14 characters: an 8-character root that identifies the company, a 4-character number for the establishment (0001 is the head office), and 2 check digits.

One change matters for anyone writing validation code. Since July 31, 2026, Receita Federal issues new CNPJs that can contain letters as well as numbers. They keep 14 characters and numeric check digits, and existing numeric CNPJs don't change. A form that only accepts ^\d{14}$ will reject a valid company registered this year.

When do you need bank details instead of a Pix key?

When the recipient doesn't have a key, or when a supplier's invoice lists a bank account instead. Pix can still pay by account details. You need the recipient's CPF or CNPJ, the bank's code, the branch, and the account number.

Two bank codes exist in Brazil, and they're easy to mix up. The ISPB is an 8-digit code that identifies an institution in the Central Bank's systems, and it's what Pix uses. The COMPE code is the 3-digit bank number people know from checkbooks and TED transfers. Account numbers usually end in a check digit after a hyphen, like 12345-6. Leave it off and the payment has nowhere to go.

What do you need to pay someone in Mexico?

A name and a CLABE, in almost every case.

DestinationWhat you collectNotes
CLABEAccount holder's name, 18-digit CLABEThe default for SPEI
Debit cardAccount holder's name, card number, bank institution codeUseful for recipients who only know their card
Phone numberAccount holder's name, phone number, bank institution codeOnly if the account is linked to the number

SPEI is Mexico's interbank payment system, run by Banco de México since 2004. It settles in seconds and runs 24/7, so a payout on a Sunday night lands like one on a Tuesday morning.

How is a CLABE built?

PositionsDigitsMeaning
1 to 33Bank code
4 to 63City (plaza) code
7 to 1711Account number
181Check digit

The check digit is what makes a CLABE safe to type. To verify one:

  1. Multiply each of the first 17 digits by a repeating weight of 3, 7, 1.
  2. Keep only the last digit of each product.
  3. Add them up and take the last digit of the sum.
  4. Subtract that from 10. The result, with 10 counted as 0, must equal the 18th digit.

It takes a few lines of code and catches every single-digit typo and most swapped pairs. The first three digits also tell you the bank, so you can show "BBVA México" or "Banorte" next to the field and let the recipient spot a wrong account before you do.

Does a Mexican payout need the RFC or CURP?

Not for SPEI routing. The RFC is Mexico's tax ID, 13 characters for individuals and 12 for companies, and the CURP is an 18-character personal registry code. Neither moves the money. Collect the RFC if your finance team needs it for tax records or supplier invoices.

What about paying Brazil or Mexico over SWIFT?

It's possible and slower, and it needs more data. A USD payout over SWIFT to a Brazilian or Mexican beneficiary needs the beneficiary's full address, the bank's SWIFT code and address, the account number, and on BlindPay the beneficiary's local tax ID and phone number. SWIFT payouts have a 100 USD minimum and can take up to 5 business days.

Local rails ask for less and settle faster. Unless the recipient specifically wants dollars in a dollar account, pay in reais over Pix or pesos over SPEI. USDC to MXN routes and USDC to BRL routes compare the options for each currency.

Which details break payouts most often?

  • Formatting left in. Dots, slashes, dashes, and spaces in a CPF, CNPJ, or CLABE. Strip them before validating, and keep letters for new CNPJs.
  • Phone keys without the country code. A Brazilian mobile key needs +55 in front.
  • A card number pasted into the CLABE field. 16 digits where 18 belong. Length checks catch this instantly.
  • The trade name instead of the legal name. Brazilian and Mexican banks register a company's legal name, not the brand on its website.
  • A missing account check digit on Brazilian bank details.
  • An old Pix key that now points to a different account, or to nothing.
  • Assuming TED runs on weekends. It doesn't. Pix and SPEI do.

Each one turns into a returned or failed payout days later if nobody catches it in the form. Common stablecoin payout mistakes covers the stablecoin-side errors that sit next to these.

How does BlindPay handle Brazil and Mexico payout details?

Each recipient is a bank account on a customer. BlindPay validates the data on creation (format, length, and country rules) the same way on development and production instances, so a bad CLABE fails in testing, not on payday.

  • Pix needs a name and a Pix key.
  • PIX Safe pays by bank details instead of a key: CPF or CNPJ, ISPB bank code, branch, and account number with check digit. It settles instantly.
  • TED uses the same fields keyed by the COMPE code, and settles in about one business day.
  • SPEI takes a CLABE, a debit card number, or a phone number, plus the beneficiary name, with the institution code for card and phone payouts.

You don't have to hardcode any of this. GET /available/bank-details?rail=... returns each rail's fields with validation patterns and bank picklists, and it's public, so your recipient form can check what BlindPay checks. Third-party accounts are supported through the recipient relationship field: an employee, a contractor, a supplier. The full field list is in bank accounts, and the rails by country are in payment methods.

Pix and SPEI payouts at BlindPay are instant. How to send USDC to a bank account in Brazil walks through a full payout, and how to off-ramp USDT in Latin America covers the stablecoin side for each country.

What should you do next?

Build your recipient form from the bank-details endpoint, add the CLABE and CPF check digits client-side, and accept alphanumeric CNPJs. Then send your first Pix and SPEI payouts on a free development instance with the payout quickstart, or check today's rate on the USDC to BRL and USDC to MXN pages. For how the whole flow fits together, start with stablecoin payments explained.

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