BRICS isn't building a new global currency this year — it's building payment pipes instead. Here's what de-dollarisation actually means, and why the dollar still touches 9 in 10 currency trades.
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In BRICS's current usage, de-dollarisation means settling more bilateral trade directly in two countries' own currencies — bypassing the dollar and the US banking system for that specific transaction. It does not mean a shared BRICS currency, which BRICS leaders have not formally adopted.
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Russia is the bloc's most motivated participant, having been cut off from dollar-based clearing systems after Western sanctions followed its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russia and China now settle roughly 90% of their bilateral trade directly in rubles and yuan.
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BRICS Pay is a cross-border settlement system designed to link China's CIPS, India's UPI, Brazil's Pix and Russia's SPFS, letting members clear trade directly through local-currency rails instead of routing through SWIFT and correspondent dollar banking, with full rollout timed to this week's Delhi summit.
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The dollar was on one side of about 89.2% of all currency trades in 2025, even as its share of global reserves has slipped. India's central bank keeps the rupee only partially convertible, and its foreign minister has said the dollar as reserve currency is the source of global economic stability — making India the bloc's most cautious major economy on this front.