BRICS, an intergovernmental organization comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, announces the creation of an independent payment system based on digital currencies and blockchain.

BRICS Digital Currencies and Blockchain-Based Payment System

Russia’s Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov in an interview with Russian News Agency TASS revealed work to create an independent payment system based on digital currencies and blockchain. It is part of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) framework to protect against global liquidity pressures including adverse affect of global financial pressures.

It is a big announcement by the BRICS nations as they primarily push for the use of currencies different from the US dollar. The de-dollarization effort has gained significantly amid the recent inflation and economic slowdown.

“We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain. The main thing is to make sure it is convenient for governments, common people and businesses, as well as cost-effective and free of politics,” Yury Ushakov said.

He added that the nations will work to improve the role of BRICS in the international monetary and financial system. The BRICS CRA is generally seen as a competitor to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

BRICS on Breaking Dollar Dominance

Recent reports revealed cooperation between the Russian Finance Ministry, the Bank of Russia, and BRICS nations to prepare a number of initiatives to improve the international monetary and financial system. This includes the creation of the BRICS Bridge multisided payment platform.

BRICS welcomed Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to join the de-dollarization drive while improving the international monetary and financial system.