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

Ten cows on a dairy farm in Paraná, Brazil, simply grew to become the primary livestock collateral formally registered on the nation’s inventory change. The deal—backed by blockchain-tracked animals carrying AI-powered sensor collars—is a real-world take a look at of whether or not the crypto world’s obsession with tokenizing bodily property can really assist farmers who’re operating out of choices.

Fazenda Engenho Velho, in Imbituva, used ten cows valued at R$120,000 (round $23,310) to safe a CPR-F—a Cédula de Produto Rural Financeira, Brazil’s rural credit score certificates that lets farmers borrow in opposition to livestock or crops—value R$100,000 (round $19,420) from BMP, a central bank-authorized direct credit score firm. BMP then bought these credit score rights to Goal FIDC (a fund that purchases and monetizes receivables), which registered the entire thing on B3, Brazil’s primary inventory change.

The cows had been “tokenized.” Every animal acquired a singular encrypted digital ID—generated from well being, behavioral, and placement information captured by good collars constructed by Cowmed, an agricultural tech startup that screens dairy herds utilizing AI. Cowmed’s system cryptographically hashes these information factors right into a tamper-resistant identifier tied on to the credit score contract—no farm inspection required.

Banks routinely low cost livestock as collateral by as a lot as 60%. A cow value R$20,000 ($2,380) on paper can find yourself valued at R$8,000 ($1,600) for mortgage functions, as a result of lenders haven’t any dependable approach to monitor an animal’s situation or verify it is nonetheless alive. “With monitoring, that uncertainty is eradicated,” Humberto Brenner, Goal FIDC director instructed Globo Rural. He additionally pointed to what’s driving demand for the mannequin: “Banks will more and more demand actual collateral and new info.”

Brazil’s farming backdrop sharpens the stakes. Agribusiness chapter safety requests—recuperação judicial, Brazil’s model of Chapter 11—reached 1,990 in 2025, practically 4 occasions the 534 filed in 2023, per Serasa Experian. Excessive rates of interest, tumbling commodity costs, and local weather shocks have mixed right into a slow-motion credit score emergency for the sector.

Cowmed CEO Thiago Martins framed the operation as a direct response to that actuality. “We took the cow, an actual and tangible asset, and remodeled it right into a digital asset backed by a singular code monitored in actual time,” he instructed CNN Brazil. “This digitalization permits formal registration on B3 as a monetary safety—the method offers the farmer an advantageous alternative to get financing, opening a brand new collateral different at a time of sturdy credit score restrictions in agribusiness.”

On what the mannequin presents producers: “The operation permits the farmer to entry extra enticing credit score when it comes to value and restrict. We need to join the farmer and the monetary establishment with a brand new different.”

The deal matches into the broader RWA tokenization wave—the apply of changing bodily property into digital tokens usable as monetary devices—which has already hit over $10 billion in complete worth locked throughout DeFi platforms by way of tokenized U.S. treasuries and actual property. Cowmed’s model simply occurs to come back with hooves.

The corporate at the moment screens 100,000 cows throughout 1,200 farms in Brazil, the U.S., Canada, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, with a mixed estimated worth of R$2 billion (roughly $395.4 million). Martins tasks 20% of that herd—R$400 million, or $77.6 million—might be pledged as tokenized collateral inside two years. 4 extra Brazilian farmers are already beneath analysis by Goal FIDC, and the businesses are concentrating on R$5 million or round $971,000 in credit score by way of this mannequin by the top of 2026.