Brazilian Farmers Are Tokenizing Cows to Get Farm Loans—And It's Working

Ten cows connected a dairy workplace successful Paraná, Brazil, conscionable became the archetypal livestock collateral formally registered connected the country's banal exchange. The deal—backed by blockchain-tracked animals wearing AI-powered sensor collars—is a real-world trial of whether the crypto world's obsession with tokenizing carnal assets tin really assistance farmers who are moving retired of options.

Fazenda Engenho Velho, successful Imbituva, utilized 10 cows valued astatine R$120,000 (around $23,310) to unafraid a CPR-F—a Cédula de Produto Rural Financeira, Brazil's agrarian recognition certificate that lets farmers get against livestock oregon crops—worth R$100,000 (around $19,420) from BMP, a cardinal bank-authorized nonstop recognition company. BMP past sold those recognition rights to Target FIDC (a money that purchases and monetizes receivables), which registered the full happening connected B3, Brazil's main banal exchange.

The cows were "tokenized." Each carnal received a unsocial encrypted integer ID—generated from health, behavioral, and determination information captured by astute collars built by Cowmed, an cultivation tech startup that monitors dairy herds utilizing AI. Cowmed's strategy cryptographically hashes those information points into a tamper-resistant identifier tied straight to the recognition contract—no workplace inspection required.

Banks routinely discount livestock arsenic collateral by arsenic overmuch arsenic 60%. A cattle worthy R$20,000 ($2,380) connected insubstantial tin extremity up valued astatine R$8,000 ($1,600) for indebtedness purposes, due to the fact that lenders person nary reliable mode to way an animal's information oregon corroborate it's inactive alive. "With monitoring, that uncertainty is eliminated," Humberto Brenner, Target FIDC manager told Globo Rural. He besides pointed to what's driving request for the model: "Banks volition progressively request existent collateral and caller information."

Brazil's farming backdrop sharpens the stakes. Agribusiness bankruptcy extortion requests—recuperação judicial, Brazil's mentation of Chapter 11—reached 1,990 successful 2025, astir 4 times the 534 filed successful 2023, per Serasa Experian. High involvement rates, tumbling commodity prices, and clime shocks person combined into a slow-motion recognition exigency for the sector.

Cowmed CEO Thiago Martins framed the cognition arsenic a nonstop effect to that reality. "We took the cow, a existent and tangible asset, and transformed it into a integer plus backed by a unsocial codification monitored successful existent time," helium told CNN Brazil. "This digitalization allows ceremonial registration connected B3 arsenic a fiscal security—the process gives the husbandman an advantageous accidental to get financing, opening a caller collateral alternate astatine a clip of beardown recognition restrictions successful agribusiness."