BRICS Chips at Dollar Without Fully Dislodging Its Foundations

Source: Daily Excelsior | Original Published At: 2026-09-13 22:30:28 UTC

Key Points

• At the New Delhi BRICS summit, the emphasis shifted from creating a common BRICS currency to making cross-border payments faster and cheaper.
• BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors discussed interoperability, local-currency settlement, fast-payment platforms and potentially central bank digital currencies.
• India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix were cited as examples of emerging-economy payment systems that could be linked internationally to reduce transaction costs and dependence on correspondent banks.
• The BRICS approach targets the dollar’s role as a transaction intermediary rather than immediately challenging its status as the world’s principal reserve asset.
• China is expanding yuan settlement and CIPS infrastructure, but capital controls and limited market access constrain the yuan’s reserve-currency role.
• The dollar retains structural advantages through deep US Treasury markets, liquid capital markets and relatively unrestricted cross-border use.
• Gulf states, including the UAE, are exploring payment links and local-currency arrangements, but dollar pegs, dollar assets and security ties make diversification more likely than displacement.