On April 11, according to Bitcoin.com, Drex, the Brazilian Central Bank's digital currency (CBDC) pilot project, is facing difficulties. Due to the reduction of resources allocated to the project, the project progress has slowed down and development has been hindered. The two largest companies involved in designing privacy solutions for the project, Microsoft and EY, have recently reduced the number of people they devote to these tasks. The standoff is related to the central bank's recent behavior, which ended the second phase of the Drex pilot without approving any projects submitted by participants. The Drex project is currently at a standstill because none of the privacy proposals needed to ensure the confidentiality of transactions while allowing regulatory review have met the central bank's requirements in this regard. Ernst & Young, which currently oversees the Starlight privacy project, has lost three people involved in developing the solution. At the same time, Microsoft has also reduced its participation in its ZKP Nova privacy proposal after investing heavily in resources last year. However, Microsoft partner Hamsa will continue to test and support ZKP Nova. Central bank executive secretary Rogerio Lucca recently pointed out that the team behind drex is still studying the future of the project. "Based on the results of ongoing testing, the technical team is currently discussing possible future steps for the project," he said. However, it did not disclose the test results.