The BRICS bloc has the BRICS Pay project ready, a payment alternative that seeks to confront SWIFT’s dominance globally and reduce the effects of US sanctions.
In this regard, the ten countries of the bloc have indicated that “more than a simple technical initiative, it is a strategic commitment to reshape the global monetary order and assert financial sovereignty in a world that has become multipolar.”
The BRICS Pay prototype was presented in Moscow in 2024, “based on a decentralized and interoperable architecture, without mandatory fees.” The payment system relies on existing national infrastructures (SPFS, CIPS, Pix, UPI), although its integration remains partial at this stage.
The alternative was presented last year as a decentralized financial messaging protocol. However, it was designed to “allow transactions in local currencies between members of the bloc, while avoiding the SWIFT network.”
According to the GIS report, the BRICS bloc hopes it will be open source, “without mandatory fees, and capable of handling up to 20,000 messages per second.”
Technical and political challenges
Although the payment tool would be based on existing systems in each country, there are still technical aspects to be resolved: “message standardization, transmission security, effective interoperability, and respect for the regulatory frameworks of each state.”
Politically, the BRICS follow a “political logic of challenging US financial hegemony. The strategic use of the dollar as a lever for sanctions, especially against Russia and Iran, has fueled the desire of countries in the Global South to build a parallel network,” to mention just two variables on the topic.
M.Pino
Source: cointribune
(Reference image source: Ze Vieira on Unsplash)
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