BRICS+, Blockchain & the Future of Stablecoins

Beyond Rhetoric, Toward Infrastructure

For more than a decade, the BRICS+ nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and their expanding circle of partners — have voiced ambitions to reshape the global financial system. In 2025, these ambitions are materializing in ways that are less about rhetoric and more about infrastructure.

Rather than simply “challenging the dollar,” BRICS states are investing in blockchain systems, tokenized assets and resource-backed instruments to enhance resilience and autonomy. This evolution has profound implications for the next generation of stablecoins and for initiatives like USDKG that embody transparency, reserve-backing and sovereign alignment.

From Dollar Dominance to Financial Optionality

The U.S. dollar remains the backbone of global finance. According to the IMF, it accounts for nearly 60% of global reserves and is used in the majority of international trade settlements. For BRICS economies, however, this dominance brings both dependency and vulnerability.

Dollar-centric reserves expose them to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, sanctions regimes, and liquidity bottlenecks in times of stress. To reduce this risk, BRICS leaders are building parallel systems.

One of the most ambitious projects is BRICS Pay, a blockchain-based network designed to enable settlement in local currencies across member states. Rather than seeking to replace the dollar outright, initiatives like BRICS Pay are aimed at creating financial optionality: a diversified set of rails for reserves, settlements, and programmable trade.

By leveraging blockchain’s speed, transparency, and interoperability, BRICS are laying the foundation for a multi-polar financial infrastructure.

Blockchain and Tokenization as Strategic Tools

Across the BRICS bloc, digital currency pilots and blockchain-based financial innovations are accelerating:

• China: The digital yuan (e-CNY) has reached over 260 million users, integrated with Alipay and WeChat Pay, and tested in Belt and Road trade corridors.
  
  
• India: The digital rupee is in advanced dual-track pilots (retail and wholesale), connected to UPI, already processing millions of transactions monthly.
  
  
• Brazil: The PIX system, launched by Brazil’s central bank in 2020, has become a dominant payment rail. Used by more than 75% of the population and handling nearly 50% of all transactions, PIX is disrupting card networks like Visa and Mastercard with near-zero fees and 24/7 instant settlement.
  
  
• Russia: Developing blockchain-based clearing systems as alternatives to SWIFT and experimenting with crypto-based settlement channels.
  
  
• South Africa: The South African Reserve Bank has led programmable finance pilots through the Project Khokha sandbox, testing interbank settlement and tokenized assets.
  
  

These pilots, though diverse in design, share a common trajectory: commodities, reserves, and payment flows are moving onto blockchain rails. Whether through CBDCs, tokenized bonds, or new settlement platforms, BRICS economies are blending old-world value (gold, oil, gas, sovereign bonds) with new-world digital infrastructure.

Gold and Resource-Backed Models in the BRICS Context

The resource endowment of BRICS nations has always been their strategic strength. China and India are among the world’s largest importers of oil and gold. Russia is a leading exporter of energy. Brazil is rich in agricultural and mineral commodities. South Africa has deep reserves of precious metals.

It is therefore no coincidence that BRICS discussions increasingly involve resource-anchored financial instruments. Proposals for gold- or commodity-backed settlement units reflect a pragmatic shift: away from fiat-backed systems dependent on U.S. debt and banking, toward models tied to intrinsic, globally demanded assets.

The global context supports this trend. The European Central Bank (ECB) recently reported that gold overtook the euro as the world’s second-largest reserve asset, accounting for nearly 20% of global reserves. Meanwhile, the World Gold Council (WGC) has documented record levels of central bank gold buying between 2022 and 2024, led by emerging markets.

For BRICS, anchoring digital settlement units to resources like gold, oil or gas provides both stability and monetary sovereignty.

Why This Matters for Stablecoins

Stablecoins are at a crossroads. On one side are the dominant fiat-backed players — USDT and USDC — which have achieved global scale but remain anchored to U.S. banks, treasuries, and regulatory frameworks. For BRICS economies, that reliance on Western banking systems is precisely the vulnerability they are seeking to avoid.

This is where resource-backed and gold-linked models gain relevance. They combine programmability with collateral that is both apolitical and globally recognized. The shift toward blockchain rails in BRICS reflects a broader truth about the global financial system: as Klaas Knot, Dutch economist and central banker, has observed, “Accelerating digitalisation across all parts of finance has improved efficiencies but also increased the interconnectedness of the global financial system.”

In other words, stablecoins are not operating in isolation. They are becoming part of a deeply interconnected financial web, where vulnerabilities in banking or reserves can quickly cascade across borders. For this reason, only models that anchor themselves in verifiable reserves and neutral collateral will prove resilient. Gold-backed stablecoins, by offering transparency and global trust, are emerging as the most credible candidates for integration into multipolar settlement systems.

USDKG: A Relevant Case Study

Kyrgyzstan is not a BRICS member, yet the USDKG stablecoin exemplifies the principles that BRICS-led initiatives are converging on.

Key Features:

• Proof of Reserve: Independent third-party audits confirm every token is overcollateralized by physical gold.
  
  
• Sovereign Oversight: The Ministry of Finance co-signs each issuance, ensuring government involvement and alignment with national law.
  
  
• Flexible Redemption: Holders can redeem USDKG for gold, fiat or crypto — creating options across markets.
  
  
• Global Integration: Deployed on Ethereum and Tron, USDKG is compatible with both DeFi ecosystems and institutional settlement platforms.
  
  

In practice, this means USDKG can serve as:

• A hedging instrument against local currency volatility in BRICS-adjacent trade corridors.
  
  
• A compliant settlement tool for exporters and importers seeking transparency.
  
  
• A bridge between DeFi liquidity and institutional adoption.
  
  

By combining gold’s intrinsic value with blockchain’s programmability, USDKG mirrors the very qualities BRICS economies are actively testing.

Convergence of BRICS and Stablecoins

The blockchain strategies of BRICS nations should not be seen merely as geopolitical posturing. They represent a pragmatic response to systemic risks: dollar dependency, banking fragility, and inflationary pressures.

As commodities and resource-backed assets enter the spotlight, stablecoins are poised to play a central role. The winners will be those that can anchor programmability to transparent reserves, sovereign legitimacy, and global neutrality.

Projects like USDKG demonstrate that even smaller economies can contribute to this transformation, offering gold-backed, regulator-approved stablecoins that align with BRICS’ strategic objectives.

For institutions navigating the next decade of programmable finance, the message is clear:
The future belongs not to stablecoins backed by promises, but to those anchored in proof, reserves, and trust.

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