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

Ten cows on a dairy farm in Paraná, Brazil, just became the first livestock collateral formally registered on the country’s stock exchange. The deal—backed by blockchain-tracked animals wearing AI-powered sensor collars—is a real-world test of whether the crypto world’s obsession with tokenizing physical assets can actually help farmers who are running out of options.

Fazenda Engenho Velho, in Imbituva, used ten cows valued at R$120,000 (around $23,310) to secure a CPR-F—a Cédula de Produto Rural Financeira, Brazil’s rural credit certificate that lets farmers borrow against livestock or crops—worth R$100,000 (around $19,420) from BMP, a central bank-authorized direct credit company. BMP then sold those credit rights to Target FIDC (a fund that purchases and monetizes receivables), which registered the whole thing on B3, Brazil’s main stock exchange.

The cows were “tokenized.” Each animal received a unique encrypted digital ID—generated from health, behavioral, and location data captured by smart collars built by Cowmed, an agricultural tech startup that monitors dairy herds using AI. Cowmed’s system cryptographically hashes those data points into a tamper-resistant identifier tied directly to the credit contract—no farm inspection required.

Banks routinely discount livestock as collateral by as much as 60%. A cow worth R$20,000 ($2,380) on paper can end up valued at R$8,000 ($1,600) for loan purposes, because lenders have no reliable way to track an animal’s condition or confirm it’s still alive. “With monitoring, that uncertainty is eliminated,” Humberto Brenner, Target FIDC director told Globo Rural. He also pointed to what’s driving demand for the model: “Banks will increasingly demand real collateral and new information.”

Brazil’s farming backdrop sharpens the stakes. Agribusiness bankruptcy protection requests—recuperação judicial, Brazil’s version of Chapter 11—reached 1,990 in 2025, nearly four times the 534 filed in 2023, per Serasa Experian. High interest rates, tumbling commodity prices, and climate shocks have combined into a slow-motion credit emergency for the sector.

Cowmed CEO Thiago Martins framed the operation as a direct response to that reality. “We took the cow, a real and tangible asset, and transformed it into a digital asset backed by a unique code monitored in real time,” he told CNN Brazil. “This digitalization allows formal registration on B3 as a financial security—the process gives the farmer an advantageous opportunity to get financing, opening a new collateral alternative at a time of strong credit restrictions in agribusiness.”

On what the model offers producers: “The operation allows the farmer to access more attractive credit in terms of cost and limit. We want to connect the farmer and the financial institution with a new alternative.”

The deal fits into the broader RWA tokenization wave—the practice of converting physical assets into digital tokens usable as financial instruments—which has already hit over $10 billion in total value locked across DeFi platforms via tokenized U.S. treasuries and real estate. Cowmed’s version just happens to come with hooves.

The company currently monitors 100,000 cows across 1,200 farms in Brazil, the U.S., Canada, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, with a combined estimated value of R$2 billion (approximately $395.4 million). Martins projects 20% of that herd—R$400 million, or $77.6 million—could be pledged as tokenized collateral within two years. Four more Brazilian farmers are already under evaluation by Target FIDC, and the companies are targeting R$5 million or around $971,000 in credit through this model by the end of 2026.