BRICS is quietly testing a payments revolution that could accelerate de‑dollarization: a gold‑pegged digital trade unit and a push to link members’ central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are moving from theory toward prototypes — and the implications reach well beyond the bloc. What’s being trialed - The “Unit” is a digital trade currency pilot created by the International Research Institute for Advanced Systems (IRIAS). Researchers launched the pilot on October 31, 2025, and unveiled a prototype on December 8, 2025. - The Unit’s design is hybrid: its value mixes 40 grams of physical gold with a currency basket that makes up the other 60%. That basket is split equally among BRICS currencies — 12% each for the Brazilian real, Chinese yuan, Indian rupee, Russian ruble and South African rand. - The Unit is intended as a settlement medium for cross‑border trade within BRICS, not as a retail CBDC or a cryptocurrency stablecoin; its closest conceptual cousin is John Maynard Keynes’ bancor — a basket‑based unit for international clearing. Why gold — and why now - BRICS members face sanctions, high dollar borrowing costs and volatility tied to U.S. monetary policy, pushing them to diversify away from dollar‑centric settlement systems and foreign‑currency reserves. As Russian economist Yevgeny Biryukov put it, gold is “a tool to protect against sanction risks, a response to the unreliability of traditional partners, and a tangible asset recognised for thousands of years.” - The bloc’s gold accumulation has been dramatic. Combined BRICS reserves exceed 6,000 tonnes: Russia 2,336t, China 2,298t, India 880t. Between 2020 and 2024, BRICS central banks purchased over half of global official gold buying; from 2022–24 central banks bought more than 1,000 tonnes a year — the longest sustained buying spree in modern history. Brazil added 16 tonnes in September 2025, bringing its total to 145.1 tonnes. - BRICS also controls roughly half of global gold production through member output and strategic partners, with China producing 380 tonnes and Russia 340 tonnes in 2025 — reinforcing physical leverage over a potential gold‑linked settlement unit. CBDCs and the push for interoperability - India, which hosts the 2026 BRICS summit, has formally proposed putting CBDC linkage on the agenda. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants BRICS members to explore interoperable CBDC rails for trade finance and cross‑border tourism payments — a first formal push to connect national digital currencies for routine settlement. - India’s e‑rupee shows momentum: about 7 million retail users since its December 2022 rollout, with features like offline payments and programmability for subsidy distribution. The RBI is positioning the e‑rupee as a regulated alternative to stablecoins, with Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar warning that stablecoins present serious risks to monetary stability, fiscal policy and systemic resilience. - The 2025 Rio declaration from BRICS already encouraged payment‑system interoperability; India’s proposal seeks to move from encouragement to operational linkage. Bigger picture: de‑dollarization in motion - Russia and China already settle most bilateral trade in yuan and rubles; local currencies dominate transactions across the Eurasian Economic Union. The trend accelerated after Western sanctions on Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. - IMF data show the dollar’s share of global FX reserves fell to 58% at the end of 2024 from 65% a decade earlier. Foreign holdings of the U.S. Treasury market dropped from roughly 50% in 2014 to about one‑third today. - Independent trackers report growing non‑dollar activity: Watcher.Guru spots 55 countries using non‑USD currencies for international transactions. Oil trades, once almost entirely dollar‑denominated, saw roughly 20% executed in other currencies in 2023. - Financial markets are watching nervously. In an analysis carried by the Financial Times, the global head of FX research at Deutsche Bank warned of simultaneous price pressure across U.S. assets, arguing the global financial system is entering “uncharted territory.” Where the Unit stands and what must happen next - Important caveat: the Unit is a research prototype, not an adopted BRICS central bank instrument. Turning it into a shared settlement layer would require hard decisions on governance, reserve contributions, volatility management, stress‑testing, and interoperable technology. - Practical questions remain: who manages gold backing and liquidity, how are trade imbalances settled, which legal and regulatory frameworks apply, and how will private‑sector rails (including tokenized gold and regulated stablecoins) coexist or compete? Why crypto and payments markets should care - A gold‑linked settlement unit and CBDC interoperability would shift gold from a passive store of value into an active trade asset — increasing demand for tokenized gold products and altering the competitive landscape for stablecoins and cross‑border payment providers. - If BRICS members scale CBDC rails for trade, global payment flows could bypass some existing dollar‑centric banking infrastructure, changing settlement corridors and reducing friction for non‑USD trade partners. Bottom line The Unit and the CBDC linkage push are concrete moves toward a BRICS‑led alternative payments architecture. They’re not yet operational, but between rapid gold accumulation, CBDC experimentation and coordinated settlement experiments, the bloc is laying the technical and financial groundwork that could reshape parts of global trade and reserve dynamics. Watch the 2026 BRICS summit in India — it could be the next decisive moment. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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