Sliman Amir ImadovichInternational Finance Researcher :Moscow State UniversityDiscussions by leaders at the BRICS summit in Kazan on the future of the association’s currency.

The de-dollarization trend started gaining popularity in the early 2010s, especially after the 2008 financial crisis and the imposition of sanctions against Russia in 2014. BRICS countries and other states began to seek alternatives to the US dollar in international trade and financial settlements in order to reduce their dependence on the US currency. On the margins of BRICS are considering various geopolitical issues, but the most interesting is the creation of their own payment system to end the unipolar world. Before the summit in Kazan in 2024, it was stated that the union would challenge the US dollar, and the main topic of negotiations would be the creation of a new payment system. The BRICS plan is to provide cheaper and faster transactions, which will attract the interest of developing countries. And at the same time will protect all participants of the organization from secondary and tertiary sanctions. The most important initiative is digital money and assets, because if the BRICS payment system will be built with their help, it means complete decentralization. No country will be able to disconnect another, and local banks will no longer need foreign banks, as all transactions will go through the country’s own central bank.
At the summit itself, we were shown demo cards of BRICS PAY system, which are distributed to the forum participants. They can be used to pay for forum souvenirs and to try the system independent of SWIFT and the Western world.
During the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russian Finance Minister Siluanov, also officially confirmed the creation of a SWIFT analog within the BRICS. But to journalists who asked questions about the introduction of a common BRICS currency, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that the discussion was closed, so we can only speculate on how it will actually work. Based on the data that was available before and after the summit in Kazan, we can say that the principle of operation will be as follows: a wallet for digital currencies of the BRICS countries and bank accounts will be integrated into the BRICS Pay system. It will be able to combine accounts of different blockchain networks, as well as open accounts in different banks, which will allow users to easily manage their money, i.e. quickly and safely pay for goods and services by any available means, including transfers between BRICS and BRICS+ countries. Users from different BRICS countries will be able to instantly exchange one national digital currency for another through the BRICS Pay app. It is now clear why countries have been rushing to create the digital ruble, yuan, rupees, riyal and other digital currencies among the BRICS countries. For example, through the BRICS Pay app, it will be possible to exchange digital yuan for digital ruble and so on. In this system, the token, in the form of a stablecoin, will be a gateway, a bridge between the digital currencies of the central banks of the BRICS countries.
Despite the fact that we have not yet received concrete answers on the development of the BRICS payment system, and we can only presume and conjecture, we see clear steps towards it, and we can already say that the BRICS summit in Kazan in 2024 is the most ambitious event in the modern foreign policy history of Russia.