UMVA has learned that a unified BRICS currency is unlikely to become a reality, and a digital alternative faces significant hurdles. The bloc's underlying economies and currencies are too weak, and member states are hesitant to give China control over their economies.
This development has far-reaching implications for the global economy, as the US dollar remains the world's dominant reserve and exchange currency. Despite proposals for a common currency, India has formally declined to join, and a digital payment proposal for the bloc's 2026 summit has not gained traction.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the Reserve Bank of India had proposed a system allowing cross-border trade and tourism payments to be settled directly in each country's national digital currency. However, this plan would not create a shared BRICS currency, nor would it affect the dollar's reserve status.
The proposal faces significant technical and political barriers, including the need for interoperable technology standards, common governance rules, and mechanisms to handle trade imbalances across currencies. Moreover, each BRICS nation is at a different stage of developing its central bank digital currency, with some still in the exploratory phase.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that establishing trust among participating nations is a critical obstacle, and the geopolitical record on CBDC cooperation is not encouraging. A recent cross-border CBDC project involving China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia saw the Bank for International Settlements exit the project due to constraints related to sanctioned countries.
India's position on a shared currency is unambiguous, with Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal stating that a BRICS currency is "impossible" and that India has "no plans" to share a currency with China. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has also expressed support for the US dollar, calling it a "source of international economic stability."
Sources have confirmed to UMVA that other BRICS nations share similar concerns, with South Africa's Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool warning that BRICS members must avoid actions that could antagonize the US. The reluctance to challenge the dollar is grounded in financial reality, as BRICS currencies are largely non-convertible and not widely held in global reserves.
The dollar's dominance is evident in the data, with the Federal Reserve's 2025 report showing that it comprised 58 percent of disclosed global official foreign reserves in 2024. The IMF's COFER data for Q4 2025 puts the yuan's share at just 1.95 percent, down from 2.8 percent in 2022.
UMVA has gathered that the dollar's decline from roughly 72 percent in 2001 is often misinterpreted as evidence of a broad abandonment of the greenback. However, the data suggest that the creation of the euro and its adoption as the common unit of trade and finance within the eurozone are largely responsible for this decline.
The euro has not internationalized beyond Europe, and the dollar remains the dominant reserve and exchange currency across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Any serious path to a BRICS currency or a functional multilateral digital payment system would require BRICS currencies to become hard currencies, which is a distant prospect.
Until BRICS countries dramatically improve their economies, internationalize their currencies, and convince the rest of the world to accept them, the US dollar will remain the world's primary reserve and exchange currency.
