Brick By Brick, BRICS+ Growing Its Digital Settlements System

Just today, March 5, 2024, Mr. Yury Ushakov, an aide to the Russian President outlined the targeted task for BRICS+ to be accomplished by the end of 2024. It concerns the BRICS+ role in setting up and running-in an independent international monetary and financial system based on digital currencies and blockchain.

"We believe that an important goal for the future is to create an independent settlement payment system within the BRICS, which would be based on the most modern technologies, such as digital currencies and blockchain. Most importantly, it would be comfortable for states, people, and businesses, would not require serious expenditures, and would be beyond politics," he said according to TASS.

This goal, which was generally outlined in the Johannesburg Declaration of 2023 the leaders concentrated the BRICS countries' focus on increasing settlements in national currencies, and strengthening correspondent banking networks to secure unfettered international transactions. He went on to say that "Work will continue on the development of the mechanism of the pool of conditional foreign exchange reserves, primarily in terms of the use of currencies alternative to the US dollar."

This development is in keeping with the multipolar structure of the BRICS+ member nations, those that aspire to join, and their national currencies to be expressed and made usable on the blockchain. A country's capacity to manage and decide to choose its own economic systems, resources, and policies without undue influence or intervention from outside forces is referred to as economic sovereignty, which is one of the strongly attractive principles for the creation of BRICS in the first place.

As CBDC developments within the group grow, coalesce, and integrate, which is already happening between Russia and China, as well as Turkey, Brazil, Iran, and most of the BRICS+ members are following suit. It will be interesting to see what effects such de-dollarization might have on the traditional financial fabric of the world as operations have already started and will invariably increase strongly.