Government-backed savings accounts could let Brazilians profit from their digital data

Brazil's public IT company Dataprev has partnered with DrumWave to create individual data savings accounts that let citizens control and monetize their digital data. The initiative, unveiled at Web Summit Rio, aims to transform personal data into economic assets with monetization potential.

As reported by Rest of World, "The 'dWallet' allows users to deposit the data generated by their daily activities into a 'data savings account.' After a user accepts a company's offer on their data, payment is cashed in the data wallet, and can be immediately moved to a bank account."

The initiative seeks to establish complete transparency about data use, enable population-wide participation in the AI economy and generate wealth for citizens through compound returns on their data's worth. Dataprev President Rodrigo Assumpção calls it a step toward digital equity by recognizing the intrinsic value of people's data. Brazil is currently rolling out a pilot to test dWallet in real-world scenarios.

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Brazil's dWallet could shift the digital economy from data privacy as protection to data property as empowerment. People increasingly expect not just privacy but their cut of the economic upside of data-fueled technologies. The model could transform personal data into dividend-paying assets, similar to streaming royalties for artists.

DrumWave is focused on taking the concept several steps further, to an agentic economy where people profit from the labor of their AI serfs: "In the next phase of the data economy, humans will open data savings accounts for their agents and robots, treating them as data-generating extensions of themselves."

Back in Brazil, critical questions remain: will affluent, digitally connected users benefit disproportionately? Could financial incentives pressure vulnerable populations to sacrifice their privacy? How will data value be calculated fairly? Governments and companies implementing similar models must develop transparent valuation, equitable benefit distribution and strong safeguards against exploitation.