Building Financial Bridges

Photo: Platon Shilikov. © ЮНИМЕДИА

Shooting location: Maidens Hotel Moscow 5*

At the very beginning of 2026, BRICS Pay announced it was ready to launch, by the end of the first quarter, a payment service supporting Russian QR payment standards. Among other things it will enable foreign tourists and businesspeople in Russia to pay for goods and services without opening a local bank account or converting currency. Please give us more detail about what kind of system this is. What technologies underlie it?

In general terms, BRICS Pay is a fundamentally new distributed infrastructure that creates a network of interconnectors between the international and national payment systems. Technologically, BRICS Pay is a distributed system of gateways, not a single centralized platform nor a blockchain. This is fundamentally important for understanding the architecture. BRICS Pay does not attempt to replace SWIFT or  VISA. We offer a parallel, additional option when traditional channels are slow, expensive, or unavailable.

The problem we resolved at the first stage was to overcome foreign tourists’ financial isolation. In 2025, Russia was visited by 5.5 million people from other countries. The international VISA and Mastercard cards do not work in Russia. Nor are national payment instruments accepted in the retail infrastructure. The existing solutions of cash, expensive workaround schemes through crypto exchangers, lack of transparency create risks and barriers. This state of affairs discriminates against citizens of many countries and limits their rights, while also not suiting the regulatory and supervisory structures.

BRICS Pay gives foreign citizens an opportunity to top up an electronic wallet with their bank card and then pay just as easily as local residents do, by scanning a QR code at the checkout or presenting a QR code on their smartphone screen. No special cards, no new bank accounts, no currency exchange offices: just a convenient digital payment.

Under whose sovereignty is this system?

Each country retains sovereignty over its national payment system. BRICS Pay does not replace these systems but creates bridges between them. For example, the Russian part of the system supports the MultiQR standard of the Banking Consortium, which covers 85% of Russian retail. Work is currently under way to implement the Faster Payments System (FPS) standard. In India, a gateway with a UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is planned similarly, in Brazil – PIX, in China – Alipay, WeChat Pay, or China UnionPay, etc.

At the user level, everything works through a mobile application on iOS or Android, plus there is a web version. Moreover, this could be either the BRICS Pay app or a national payment system app with built-in BRICS Pay payment rails. When a user scans a QR code in a store, the system automatically determines the code format and routes the payment through the appropriate gateway. This makes BRICS Pay a universal payment router.

The system currently allows Consumer-to-Business (C2B) transactions to be performed, that is, retail payments by individuals in stores, restaurants, and hotels. The commercial launch of this service is planned for mid-2026, and we are ready for it.

Will companies and various legal entities also be able to use this system in the future?

Yes. In parallel, work is already under way to create B2B settlements: corporate cross-border payments for businesses. This is much more complex because it involves a different architecture, regulation, trade finance, invoicing, compliance with inter­national compliance standards, and integration with accounting and customs systems.We plan to launch B2B segment pilot testing by mid-2026, with the commercial launch in the second half of the year.

The BRICS Pay development roadmap up to 2030 envisions phased integration with the payment infrastructure of BRICS+ countries, starting with individual CIS countries, the UAE, Turkey, and Egypt already in the second quarter of this year, and then other members of the group by the end of 2027. Do these plans remain in force?

Yes, they do. In general, we are moving forward according to the planned schedule. Remember that the BRICS Pay technologies were first demonstrated in 2024. Today, the first stage is ready for launch. This proves the viability of the concept and creates a basis for scaling up. Currently, we are building direct payment gateways with the BRICS+ partner countries’ national systems that are most economically connected. At the same time, countries do not necessarily have to be members of the BRICS club or have partner country status. There are virtually no restrictions.

The second stage, an ambitious and technically complex one, will expand the geographical coverage of BRICS Pay and create a network of interconnected gateways between national payment systems. At this stage, BRICS Pay ceases to be just a payment app and becomes a transparent layer between national systems. The user will not need to install a separate BRICS Pay app; they will be able to use their familiar app (such as Alipay or BHIM UPI), and payment routing between countries will occur automatically at the processing level. This requires deep technological integration with the national processing systems and harmonization of authorization, clearing, and settlement standards.

Are you already prepared to start?

Readiness at this stage depends not only on us but also on regulators and national payment operators. In China, India, and Brazil, the level of readiness is high: the Alipay (WeChat Pay, CUP), UPI, and PIX systems are technologically mature and open to integration. There is interest from both sides, and we are confident that, by the end of 2027, the main integrations will be completed.

Is the proposal made in mid-January by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that the central banks of the BRICS countries link their digital currencies in order to simplify cross-border trade and tourism payments part of the same chain? What role does BRICS Pay take on here?

The possibility of using central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the long term is perhaps the most strategically important aspect of the project. All major BRICS countries are currently conducting pilots of their CBDCs. India launched the e-rupee in December 2022. China is developing the digital yuan, the world’s largest pilot. Brazil is working on the digital real. Russia is working on the digital rouble.

Here, BRICS Pay is not an initiator but a technological follower of central banks along the digital currency track. The system can become a gateway platform for CBDC settlements between countries if the central banks decide on mutual integration of their digital currencies on the platform of solutions we are developing.

In this logic, the announced RBI proposal fits into the BRICS Pay development plans. Its essence is to create interoperability between the central bank digital currencies of the BRICS countries so that the e-rupee, digital yuan, digital rouble, digital real, and other CBDCs can interact directly for trade and tourism settlements, bypassing traditional correspondent bank networks.

Let me emphasize: this is not about a single BRICS currency, an idea that was abandoned, but rather about a platform for exchanging national digital currencies. Even so, it is important to reiterate that the decisions are made by the countries’ central banks and the final configuration of the platform for interaction and settlements is not yet clear. BRICS Pay could become this platform: a technological gateway providing routing, conversion, and settlements between different countries’ CBDCs at the level of retail and corporate payments. At the same time, we are not developing the CBDC technologies themselves, this being the prerogative of central banks. Even so, we are creating the infrastructure that will allow these digital currencies to work together.

How far along have these issues come so far, both technologically and regulatorily?

For now, they are at an early stage of development. All BRICS central banks are conducting pilots but no BRICS country has yet launched a full scale CBDC. Consensus is required on technological standards, on governance, on settling trade imbalances. This is a major task. It also remains to resolve technological compatibility problems. Different countries use different QR code standards (MultiQR and FPS in Russia, EMV QR international, Alipay QR in China, UPI QR in India), different authorization protocols and different data formats, this leading to a need for big capital expenditures of money and time to build the infrastructure. A separate problem is regulatory compatibility. Each country has its own licensing, AML/CFT, and data protection requirements. The solution is to work through local licensed operators in each jurisdiction. BRICS Pay is not a single global operator. It is a consortium of operators, each complying with their own country’s laws and interacting with others through a standardized protocol.

Key Elements of the BRICS+ Technological Infrastructure with the Participation of BRICS Pay

BRICS Pay (C2B and B2B)

Payment service for retail and corporate payments.
Status: C2B launches in Q1 2026, B2B in the second half of 2026.

BRICS DCMS (Decentralized Cross-border Messaging System)

A decentralized system for transmitting interbank financial messages as an alternative to SWIFT. This is not a payment system but a system for transmitting financial messages between banks (transfer instructions, settlement confirmations, documents). Unlike SWIFT, which has a central node in Belgium, DCMS is a distributed network of nodes in each participating country.
Status: Testing under way, pilot and commercial launch – 2026–2027.

BRICS Bridge (m-­CBDC Bridge)

The idea of a platform for settlements using national digital currencies between the BRICS countries’ central banks. This is a wholesale level, or the level of settlements between central banks, not retail payments. A prototype of such a platform already exists, the mBridge project, which was developed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the central banks of China, Thailand, the UAE, and Hong Kong. The BRICS Bridge could be built on similar principles but under the control of the BRICS central banks, without BIS participation.
Status: Being discussed at central bank level, a formal proposal is expected at the BRICS Summit in India in 2026.

Unit

A digital supranational synthetic settlement and accounting unit intended for use in cross-border trade and finance among the BRICS+ countries. It is issued on a blockchain platform and relies on a fixed basket of real reserve assets. The Unit is a settlement token, not a classic cryptocurrency: it serves as a reference value for pricing, invoicing, and mutual settlements, while the obligations themselves can be fulfilled in the participants’ national currencies. The Unit basket is constructed according to the 40/60 rule. That is, 40% of its value is backed by physical gold (by mass 0.4 grams, not by nominal value), and 60% is backed by a basket of BRICS+ national currencies (in the monetary equivalent 0.6 grams of gold).

If, as stated above, the payment infrastructure is not built on a blockchain, what is the meaning of the decentralization principle underlying it?

The principle of decentralization here means a distributed architecture without a single centralized processing and settlement centre. This is a fundamental difference from traditional systems. This approach corresponds to modern ideas about sustainable and equidistant systems and provides a number of undeniable advantages.

First, it preserves sovereignty. Each country retains full control over its national payment system. No one can disconnect a country from BRICS Pay unilaterally. Each gateway is an independent node in the network and, even if one node fails or is blocked, the others continue to operate. Second, it increases scalability speed. Adding a new country to the BRICS Pay network simply involves adding one or more new gateways, without having to rebuild the entire system. This allows for rapid geographic expansion.Third, it increases fault tolerance. There is no single point of failure. If technical problems in one country, payments between other countries continue. In centralized systems, a failure in the central node paralyzes the entire network. Fourth, it increases transparency and trust. In a distributed system, all participants see the same data (within their permissions), and no one can change the rules or block transactions unilaterally, without consensus. This is especially important for countries with different levels of mutual trust. As for blockchain technology, it is used in some elements of the ecosystem, such as the Unit of account.

What is this unit, given that it has been decided not to have a single BRICS currency? Does BRICS Pay participate in its development?

The Unit is an interesting and ambitious project but it is important to understand that BRICS Pay is not developing the BRICS Unit. This is a separate initiative led by the International Research Institute for Management Problems (IRIASP/IRIAS), together with BRICS analytical centres. We are in contact with the project developers and are ready for integration. Technologically, this is not a difficult task for BRICS Pay: the Unit pilot has been launched, the basis exists. There is still a long way to go to harmonize the regulatory perception of the Unit.

How do you see the subsequent stages of infrastructure deployment?

The modular approach allows elements to be launched gradually. In 2026, BRICS Pay C2B and B2B will be launched, and pilot operation of BRICS DCMS will begin. Subsequently, new elements may be added to the infrastructure. By 2030, under a favourable scenario, we will have a fully-fledged alternative financial infrastructure. All the requisite technologies already exist or are being developed. The main question is whether the BRICS+ countries are ready for real coordination and compromises for the sake of a common goal. The BRICS Summit, which will be hosted by India this year, is another moment of truth. The BRICS association is going through its first crisis – a geopolitical test. It is very important what statements the leaders of the countries make at the Summit in India. The speed of integration processes depends on this.

Do you have any doubts?

A distributed system only works when all participants trust one another or, at the very least, have control and transparency mechanisms that make dishonest behaviour unprofitable. The window of opportunity is not infinite. BRICS+ has a chance to build an alternative infrastructure. But, if the process drags on for decades, Western systems might adapt, or other centralized competitors might emerge.

We are confident that the first stage, BRICS Pay C2B in Russia, will prove the viability of the concept in the coming months. This will be a visible, tangible result. And then, step by step, country by country, we will build a fully-fledged alternative financial infrastructure that will change the global finance rules of the game.