BRICS explores alternative payment systems amid de-dollarization debate

The debate over de-dollarization continues as BRICS nations explore alternative payment systems and trade settlement routes. While the U.S. dollar maintained 57.13 percent of allocated global reserves in the first quarter of 2026, the renminbi held 1.99 percent.

Economist Jim O’Neill, who coined the term BRICs, notes that the growing economic power of India and China, alongside the push for alternative payment systems, could eventually reshape the international monetary system.

Efforts to build a BRICS payment ecosystem are currently focused on interoperability. Under India’s 2026 presidency, members are discussing links between domestic fast-payment systems and central bank digital currencies. Additionally, the BRICS Business Council is developing ‘BRICS Pay,’ a distributed network of gateways intended to connect national systems, which could gain geopolitical relevance even without a single intergovernmental payment system.