BRICS Launches Gold-Backed UNIT Payment System to Accelerate De-Dollarization

The BRICS bloc has formally unveiled its UNIT payment system, a gold-backed settlement mechanism designed to facilitate cross-border trade outside Western financial infrastructure. Eleven nations are full participants, with twenty-two others in various stages of adoption—a direct challenge to dollar hegemony.

Central banks within the alliance have aggressively accumulated Gold reserves, with Russia (2,336 tonnes), China (2,298 tonnes), and India (880 tonnes) leading the charge. Brazil’s 16-tonne September purchase marked its first gold acquisition since 2021, while global central bank buying has exceeded 1,000 tonnes annually since 2022—the longest sustained streak in modern history.

‘UNIT reflects the geopolitical bifurcation of finance into bloc-based systems,’ noted a BRICS analyst. The platform enables trade of gold, platinum, and rare earth minerals without dollar intermediation, anchoring transactions to physical assets rather than fiat currencies.