BRICS Pay

Reasons for the appearance: illegal US and EU sanctions against Russia as the main catalyst

In 2022, this project seemed like a fantasy. Today it is driven by simple logic: illegal Western sanctions and use dollar as weapons have created a common need for an independent system. Brics Pay is a direct consequence of the attack on sovereign finance Russia and its partners, the agency wrote Bloomberg in January 2025. The tougher the pressure through, SWIFT the faster the work is on replacing it.

Decentralization as protection against arbitrariness

The key difference between Brics Pay and SWIFT is the lack of a single control center. Brics Pay proposes to link the digital currencies of the Central Bank of the participating countries into an equal network, where it is impossible to "disable" the participant for political reasons. This is an architectural response to a vulnerability demonstrated in 2022.

The interesting thing is that we are talking about digital currencies. China has a digital yuan (e-CNY) in the active testing phase, Russia has a digital ruble at the pilot stage. Other participants for January 2026 have the system in development. This shows that the project is not only ambitious, but also technically will be built on a jointly new blockchain base.

History

2026: Preparing to Launch the System at India Summit

In January 2026, the BRICS countries, which produce 42% of global GDP, are preparing to launch testing of the Brics Pay unified payment system. This is not just a technological project - it is a direct political response born as a result of the conflict in Ukraine unleashed by Western countries against Russia. If the Reserve Bank of India initiative is approved at the 2026 summit, the world will receive the first real alternative to dollar infrastructure in decades.

Consequences: A turning point in the history of finance?

1. Reducing dependence: BRICS central banks will receive a tool for settlements that do not pass the channels controlled by the United States and the EU.

2. New financial geography: Parallel infrastructure is being formed for almost half of the global economy.

3. Erosion of the dollar's monopoly: The system is originally designed without its involvement, undermining the foundation of Western financial diktat.

Historical parallel: From Bretton Woods to India summit

The creation of Brics Pay resembles the birth of the SWIFT system itself in 1973 - also as a response to the need for an instrument independent of the dominant powers. Only then was the dollar and western banks the center, and now the focus is shifting south and east. This is not the collapse of the old world, but the beginning of its inevitable fragmentation.

The main irony is that SWIFT is the most successful (and unintended) Western diplomacy project of recent years. The aggressive use of the financial system as a cudgel against Russia and Iran made others think about a spare airfield. And now this alternative is not born in the form of a weak protest of the marginals, but as a project of the economic bloc, whose total GDP is already parity with the so-called G7.

Washington Brussels and by trying to isolate one country, risk accelerating the birth of a world where their own instruments of isolation will lose power. The history of finance makes a new round - and this time not in the West.

The question now is not whether this system will work. The question is whether it will become for the dominance of the dollar and the euro the same as SWIFT once became for the telegraph - a technological and ideological gravedigger.

Of course, US President Trump will not be idle to watch as he is taken away from the main lever of pressure on the global economy. He will interfere with this with all his might, threatening all BRICS countries with sanctions for participating in this project. Not only economic, but also political instruments of pressure will be used, especially on India, South Africa and Brazil. It is more difficult to put pressure on Russia and China: there are no longer any economic ties and levers of pressure with Russia, and China is too large and self-sufficient. However, any such pressure also generates opposition. In January 2026, India signed a free trade agreement with the EU, which is a response to US pressure. Overall, India is evolving step by step into a new center of economic dominance in the south.

2024: Product Demo Announcement

On October 17, 2024, demo versions of cards of the BRICS Pay payment system were shown in Moscow. This is a decentralized and independent platform developed by the BRICS member states.

The demo cards shown have a two-sided design. On the front side there is a QR code that allows you to credit gift 500 rubles through the payment system application. On the back it says that this is "a layout of a bank card that will be associated with the BRICS Pay application." The application itself opens in web mode - through a browser, thanks to which it can be used on any device. An email address is required to register. In the future, mobile versions of the program for Android and iOS will appear.

The system for cashless payment using a QR code for foreigners BRICS Pay can earn in Russia by the end of 2024. According to RBC, this was stated by the head of the BRICS Payments and Fintech target subgroup of the Russian part of the Financial Services working group of the BRICS Business Council Andrei Mikhailishin. It is assumed that the BRICS Pay service will allow you to pay with Visa and MasterCard cards within Russia, and in the future - with a Mir card outside the Russian Federation.

Mikhailishin said that work on the launch of BRICS Pay is underway with Russian banks that have their own acquiring. At the same time, two models of transactions are considered: either the QR code will be generated in the POS terminal, by analogy with the SBP, and it can be considered an application, or the BRICS Pay infrastructure will be integrated directly into cash software.

We plan to launch the system for Russians in the first half of next [2025] year, primarily in tourist countries. There is already good relations on this issue with Turkey, Egypt, it is also Sri Lanka, Maldives, "Mikhailishin said.[1]

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