Introduction
The BRICS currency project is not an attempt to create a "Euro for the Global South," but rather the systemic engineering of a new financial infrastructure. Instead of a common central bank, the bloc's nations are building a polycentric settlement network where the dollar becomes just one of many options. This article analyzes how digital technologies and commodity resources are intended to break the Western monopoly, creating a world of multiple "channels" for capital flow.
The BRICS Model: Decentralization Instead of a Euro-style Monetary Union
Unlike the Eurozone, BRICS rejects the illusion of a single interest rate. The project is based on decentralization and monetary sovereignty. Instead of physical currency, a system is emerging that links national currencies through common settlement protocols, avoiding the political costs of a full monetary union.
Gold: The Anchor of Value for the Unit Account
The key module is the Unit—a unit of account whose value is backed 40% by gold and 60% by a basket of BRICS+ currencies. The bullion remains in national vaults but is integrated into a digital registry. The Unit is not intended for retail payments but serves as a stable measure of value (numéraire) in international contracts.
Blockchain and CBDCs: A New Payment Architecture
The foundation of these changes lies in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and distributed ledger technology (DLT). They allow for programmability and instant transaction settlement without the mediation of Western correspondent banks, radically shortening payment chains.
BRICS+: Demographic and Commodity Dominance Over the G7
The BRICS+ bloc represents nearly half of the world's population and over one-third of global GDP (PPP). The group controls 44% of oil production and holds a near-monopoly on rare earth metals (over 70% of reserves). This critical mass provides the alternative financial system with a real, material anchor.
India Blocks Renminbi Hegemony in BRICS Settlements
India acts as a guardian of balance, ensuring strategic autonomy. New Delhi firmly opposes the dominance of the renminbi, promoting the use of the rupee instead. For India, de-dollarization cannot mean the "yuanization" of the system; therefore, they only support balanced currency baskets.
Russia and Iran: BRICS Systems Neutralize Western Sanctions
For countries under restrictions, such as Russia and Iran, these new systems are a matter of survival. They serve as stress laboratories, testing the resilience of DLT channels against being cut off from SWIFT. If these mechanisms prove successful, the Washington-led system will lose its most powerful weapon: economic coercion.
EU Strategy: Defending the Euro Amid Dollar Fragmentation
Although tied to the dollar, the European Union seeks monetary autonomy through the digital euro. Brussels fears the dominance of private US giants (Visa, PayPal) and views its own CBDC as a tool for sovereignty in an increasingly fragmented world.
Gresham’s Law in the Era of Digital Currencies
In the new system, politically safe money (resistant to sanctions) may displace more liquid money that carries the risk of confiscation. If businesses decide that asset security is worth higher transaction costs, the dollar will lose its natural advantage.
The Unit System: Political Risks and Loss of Sovereignty
The project carries risks: a lack of transparency in authoritarian economies and the risk of importing inflation from unstable member states. Joining the Unit system could mean shifting dependence from one hegemon to another whose practices may be questionable.
BRICS Bridge: Ending the SWIFT System Monopoly
The BRICS Bridge project is building a technological bridge for national CBDCs. It decentralizes decision-making centers—each state maintains its own node, making it impossible to unilaterally cut off a participant from the global financial bloodstream, ending the era of the SWIFT monopoly.
Commodity Trade: BRICS Currency Displaces the Dollar on Exchanges
The greatest threat to the dollar is a change in the invoicing currency for commodities. If oil and gas begin to be priced in Units or local currencies, demand for the dollar will plummet, striking at the very core of the petrodollar system.
The BRICS Currency Snake Stabilizes Member Exchange Rates
The system is intended to function as a currency snake—a network of exchange rate bands around a common unit. Stability is to be ensured by central bank interventions and loans from the New Development Bank (NDB), resembling a digital version of the old European Monetary System.
UAE and Iran: The Energy Foundation of the New Currency
The addition of the United Arab Emirates and Iran to BRICS+ completes the commodity loop. Thanks to them, the Unit gains backing in real energy flows, which is crucial for market trust—a reserve currency must be used in mass trade.
US Counteroffensive: Defending the Dollar Against the Global South
Washington faces a dilemma: accelerate work on a digital dollar to maintain its technological edge or continue applying aggressive sanctions. However, excessive defensiveness may only accelerate the flight of Global South nations toward alternative systems.
De-dollarization: Long-term Engineering of a New Order
De-dollarization is not a sudden coup but a marathon. It is a process of carving out new channels for global capital. The dollar will remain important, but it will cease to be the sole point of reference, giving way to a multipolar structure designed outside Western institutions.
Summary
Today, as money becomes an arena for geopolitical struggle, the BRICS currency appears not only as an economic instrument but as a manifestation of the drive toward a multipolar world. Will it manage to challenge the dollar's hegemony, or will it remain merely a symbol of an alternative path? Perhaps in the world of digital currencies, the very definition of dominance will be re-evaluated, and strength will lie in flexibility and the capacity for adaptation?
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