What is Settlement and Payment Platform BRICS Bridge?

BRICS Bridge – this will be the name of the multilateral settlement and payment platform, on the creation of which specialists from the BRICS countries are working.

The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank are participating from Russia, as well as the Ministry of Digital Development (the platform will be digital). The purpose of the platform is to enable quick settlements between counterparties in the national currencies of their countries, taking into account the exchange rate correlated with the reference standard.

Previously (in the past era), the preferred currencies of the West — the US dollar and the euro — served as such a standard for exchange (as well as a means of reserve accumulation). As the US and EU recklessly turned their currencies into weapons and began arbitrarily freezing and confiscating assets denominated in these currencies, their privileged status was hopelessly undermined.

The desire of the global non-West to get rid of the dictates of the dollar/euro pair and from colonial financial exploitation by the Western financial system has accelerated the search for an alternative.

It appears to be nearing completion. BRICS Bridge users will be both the founders of the association — the Russian Federation, Brazil, India, China and South Africa, and the new recruits — Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Anyone who joins the alliance later will also receive access to the BRICS Bridge if they wish. The main instrument of the system in the future will be central bank digital currencies (CBDC), the rate of which will be tied to the value of fiat national currencies.

The CBDC accounting register will be decentralized so that none of the participants can single-handedly block the actions of partners (blockchain-type technology). Apparently, the creation of the BRICS Bridge platform will be one of the main topics at the BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024.