BRIC was formed in September 2006 by Brazil, Russia, Bharat and China (the original BRIC), the bloc held its first annual summit in June 2009. South Africa joined in December 2010, creating BRICS. In 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates became members, with Indonesia joining in 2025 —making it BRICS+.
Collectively these countries account for about 36% of the world’s geography and 48.5% of its population. BRICS’s combined wealth is 39% of global GDP (PPP), 78.2% of global coal production, 36% of natural gas production and 72% of rare earth mineral reserves. Some more countries are expected to join BRICS or associate as “partner countries”.
BRICS nations banknote UNIT
At a major BRICS summit in Russia last year (2025), a banknote was symbolically unveiled (which currently does not have any monetary value). Designed according to the International Reserve and Investment Asset System, this symbolic bank note known as UNIT is backed by a fixed reserve basket of 40% gold (by weight) and 60% in BRICS+ currencies. This hybrid backing gives the Unit a degree of stability and diversification that a government issued currency or unbacked digital tokens do not have. Gold acts as a stabiliser, while the currency basket acts as a derisking mechanism. Unit would be delivered through a digital platform using transparent blockchain technology for cross border trade. This mechanism is expected to reduce exposure to financial volatility which typically single currencies are susceptible to.
The banknote rolled out by BRICS, ringed with national flags and multilingual text, was dubbed an R5: acknowledging the real, ruble, rupee, renminbi and rand currencies of the bloc’s core members viz., Brazil, Russia, Bharat, China and South Africa.
Therefore, the UNIT would not be controlled by any single country or nation-based central bank, nor would it function as an everyday currency. It is broadly expected to be: a basket-backed, collateral-anchored settlement instrument intended specifically for wholesale, cross-border trade in a multipolar financial world.
Evolving BRICS Block
The proposed strategy is to reduce the group’s collective trade dependence on the major global currencies, US dollar, euro or yen. This would also lower exchange costs by removing the need to convert local currencies to and from the US dollar. This will also increase economic and financial interdependence between BRICS+ members, and insulate against the economic shockwaves from the US and the West in the event of a recession – such as US subprime crisis that occurred in 2008 say for example the current AI bubble which some financial pundits opine will burst in the near future. Incidentally, the US Dollar Index – which measures the dollar’s performance against a basket of other currencies – fell by about 8% in 2025, thanks to Trump’s tariff tantrums.
In 2024, BRICS+ countries held around 6,143 tonnes of gold, compared with the US’s 8,134 tonnes, while China and Bharat together accumulated an additional 572.5 tonnes between 2019 and 2024. As per the data shared by Northern Miner (Canadian weekly trade journal), BRICS countries have increased their gold’s share of their total reserves by 102% since 2020 (between Q3 2020 and Q3 2025). Gold rose from 6.4% to 12.9% of their aggregate reserves, driven by aggressive central-bank buying and rising geopolitical uncertainty. (China from 1,948 tonnes to 2,304 tonnes, Bharat from 668 tonnes to 880 tonnes, Russia from 2,299 tonnes to 2,330 tonnes are the leading gold accumulating nations in BRICS).
Work is under way on a common payments system known as BRICS Pay, while the BRICS+ New Development Bank could potentially issue UNITs.
The above measures are expected to give BRICS nations financial autonomy and a more multipolar monetary system in the global trade.
BRICS trading partners could use Units for pricing and settlement. Units are digitally created on a blockchain-based platform that records asset backing. Once trade concludes, central banks settle using the gold and currency components behind the Units. The receiving party can convert Units into a local currency or take delivery of the gold component. Thus, this system would be less dependent on the U.S. dollar or Western payment gateways.
Unit will be backed by blockchain technology that ensures transparent asset tracking and real-time settlement without conventional banking intermediaries. This is expected to insulate Unit from currency volatility which even the cryptocurrencies are vulnerable to. The features of real asset collateral + decentralized architecture behind Unit aims to provide confidence and stability.
Bharat’s stance
Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed linking the official digital currencies of BRICS nations — known as CBDCs — to improve cross-border trade and reduce transaction costs. This proposal could be formally discussed at the 2026 BRICS Summit in Bharat.
Bharat has gone on record saying that de-dollarization is not a core national agenda, even while supporting local-currency trade within BRICS. Government officials have clarified that joining BRICS does not mean abandoning the dollar system outright.
Beyond BRICS, Bharat is making efforts to promote international use of the Bharat’s rupee through bilateral trade agreements and currency swap arrangements with countries like UAE, Indonesia, and others. These efforts are expected to reduce exposure to exchange-rate volatility while preserving financial sovereignty.
Bharat’s digital currency — the e-rupee — launched in 2022 with several million users. As of March 2025, over 6 million users were participating, with about half a million transactions per month. The total value of e-Rupee in circulation had crossed ₹1,000 crore (~₹10 billion) by March 2025 — up from just ₹234 crore by March 2024. Bharat’s financial institutions use e-Rupee for interbank settlement for market securities. Though e-rupee is primarily domestic today, its integration with international systems like BRICS CBDC linkages could enhance its global role.
The Way Forward for BRICS
The banknote Unit launched by BRICS though is currently symbolic, the above-mentioned initiatives will certainly offer several benefits to the BRICS nations in terms of trade settlement, reduced transaction costs, diversification of reserves and more importantly shield against erratic US sanctions (first phase). Adoption of Unit among the BRICS nations to reap the benefits mentioned above depends on political will, technical readiness, and economic stability across member states. Taking these things for granted, it will take minimum five years for the BRICS nations to get the tangible results of the first phase. In the second phase of BRICS expansion one can expect reduction of investment in US Treasury securities and other dollar-denominated assets. As a sequel to this treasury and forex markets with active derivatives will evolve in BRICS on a significant global scale, which can catapult the BRICS banknote Unit as an actively traded global currency. According to the latest estimates, in the currency reserves for global transactions and investments US Dollar still has a dominant share of 63% followed by Euro 20%, and Japanese Yen 4.9%. If BRICS Unit reaches the second phase of expansion as mentioned earlier, then by a decade’s time from now the share of Unit in the global currency reserves may reach 15%-20%. Then US Dollar, Euro and Unit all three will be significant players in global trade and investment which will insulate not only the BRICS nations but the entire world from the negative impact of excessive dependence on a single currency, leave alone US Dollar. The world by then would be moving towards multipolar monetary system which would benefit all the players in the global trade. All said and done, these developments will depend on whether the Trump ‘s tariff tantrums will continue further or wisdom will prevail upon the US President to do a damage control exercise.
