BRICS’ Dollar End-Run: 3 Jaw-Dropping Plays That Left the USD in the Dust
The greenback's grip is slipping—and BRICS nations aren't even pretending to play nice. Here's how the coalition flipped the script on dollar dominance.
1. The Petro-Yuan Power Play
Beijing didn't just dip a toe in oil markets—it cannonballed in, forcing crude traders to choose between USD and yuan settlements. Guess which currency's now backing 8% of global oil trades?
2. Gold-Backed Digital Gambitcheroo
When Russia minted the world's first sovereign gold-pegged CBDC, Wall Street scoffed. Until $40B in bilateral trade suddenly bypassed correspondent banks entirely.
3. The Barter Blockchain Blitz
India's rupee-ruble gas deals looked clunky—until they plugged into a permissioned ledger. Now 12% of BRICS cross-border flows settle peer-to-peer. Take that, SWIFT.
Meanwhile, DC think tanks still argue about 'transitory de-dollarization.' Cute.
How BRICS Sidelined the US Dollar
After the White House imposed sanctions on Russia, India has been buying crude oil from its BRICS counterpart using the rupee, ruble, and dirham. India had also saved over $7 billion in exchange rates for over two years before TRUMP stopped the purchases through additional sanctions. This was among the first instances where BRICS used the US sanctions to bypass the dollar and benefit from it.
BRICS member China remained straightforward with Brazil, allowing them to settle trade in the Chinese yuan and the real. China and Brazil signed an agreement where the majority of settlements can be paid in local currencies. The US dollar will be used only when required based on the necessity of the settlements. This boosted the yuan’s role in Latin America, giving it a stepping stone to penetrate the rest of the markets.
China made use of the US sanctions, making BRICS member Russia limit the dollar and pay the yuan for trade. The two settled a record amount of payments in the Chinese yuan, with over 90% of bilateral trade in local currencies, according to the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Russia is now the largest user of the yuan outside China, and all of this happened due to the sanctions. For two years in a row, Russia and China have been at the top when it comes to settling payments in local currencies.
