Table of Contents
TL;DR,
- The BRICS payment system uses blockchain and CBDCs for local-currency settlements, but July 2025 talks confirmed no unified currency—raising questions about Africa’s sovereignty versus dependency trade-offs.
- While Nigeria’s eNaira struggles with adoption and stablecoin use explodes, African nations face a choice: integrate PAPSS, BRICS rails, and Western systems, or risk new digital dependencies.
- South Africa hedges between SWIFT and BRICS, Egypt sees FX relief, and Ethiopia gambles diplomatically—but switching from dollars doesn’t automatically reduce risk for African economies.
When BRICS nations announced plans for a blockchain-based payment infrastructure, the rhetoric promised financial sovereignty and reduced dependence on Western systems. For African countries—whether BRICS members like South Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia, or close partners like Nigeria and Kenya—the question is more practical: does this system solve real problems, or just replace one set of dependencies with another?
While the story does carry off the classic “stick it to the man” narrative, where does Africa come into play? The paperwork and fluffed speeches place the BRICS payment system as a genuine chance to diversify payment rails and lower transaction costs, but it also raises hard questions about governance, currency volatility, and technological lock‑in.
Let’s dissect the narrative, focusing on what local stakeholders and members say about the BRICS Bridge and the de-dollarization strategy.
What the BRICS Payment System Actually Is
Here’s the basic break down; BRICS payment system (often called BRICS Bridge or BRICS Pay) is a proposed blockchain-based cross-border payments infrastructure. Its goal is to let member states and partners settle trade in local currencies rather than relying almost exclusively on U.S. dollars.
The matter of how BRICS uses digital currencies generally depends on which kind it employs. Currently the proposed system will mainly pivot towards:
- Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) such as South Africa’s proposed digital rand or Nigeria’s eNaira
- Bilateral currency swaps (for example, yuan–rand, rupee–naira)
- Integration with China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) for yuan settlements
- Blockchain-based settlement layers to cut correspondent banking costs
In July 2025, BRICS finance ministers meeting in Rio de Janeiro reaffirmed support for local‑currency trade but did not endorse a unified BRICS currency. Instead, they tasked a BRICS Payment Task Force with improving interoperability of existing payment systems. That is a more modest, technically complex goal than a full‑blown dollar replacement.
What African BRICS Members Had to Say
South Africa: Strategic Autonomy, Not Ideology
South Africa, BRICS’s only African founder, frames the system as risk management through diversification, not a clean break from the dollar. Research from the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) warns against treating BRICS as a wholesale alternative to Western finance.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has explored blockchain through Project Khokha and is testing a digital rand in regulatory sandboxes, with no launch expected before 2026 due to Africa’s fragmented regulations. At the same time, South Africa is one of a select group of banks piloting SWIFT’s blockchain‑based tokenized payments. A clear play to hedge between BRICS‑aligned and Western rails.
Trade realities limit rapid de‑dollarization. South African commodity exports are still largely priced in dollars, and China—its major partner—buys much of that trade in dollar‑denominated contracts.
Egypt: FX Crisis Meets CBDC Ambition
Egypt joined BRICS in 2023 amid acute dollar and euro shortages. For Cairo, the BRICS payment system is less ideological than existential: any mechanism that allows settlement in yuan, rupees, or rubles could provide relief from chronic hard‑currency scarcity.
Egypt’s digital strategy to 2030 includes an e‑Pound CBDC. Officials present a state‑backed digital currency as safer than unregulated crypto and a tool to retain monetary control. Analysts, however, caution that BRICS membership does not automatically deliver investment or cheap financing. Without structural reforms, a new rail alone cannot fix deep fiscal and debt pressures.
Ethiopia: Diplomatic Win, Economic Uncertainty
Ethiopia’s 2023 BRICS accession was celebrated as a diplomatic victory, but economists still ponder about her unresolved “issues.” The country faces foreign currency shortages and heavy reliance on IMF and World Bank support. Participation in BRICS payment projects does not, by itself, resolve debt sustainability or structural imbalances.
To many, it’s more of a wild card, since it’s more of a strategic ambiguity than an economic strategy.
BRICS presidents
Where does the rest of Africa fall in?
Nigeria: De‑Dollarization Rhetoric vs. Stablecoin Reality
Nigeria is a BRICS “partner country” rather than a full member, but it is one of Africa’s loudest de‑dollarization advocates. In 2024, Abuja announced that some oil sales would be settled in naira rather than dollars. But it was more symbolically powerful than practical. Most oil prices and benchmark contracts remain dollar-denominated.
Nigeria launched the eNaira in 2021 and later signed an MoU with blockchain firm Gluwa to spur adoption. Yet IMF data suggest that only a small fraction of wallets transact weekly. In contrast, Nigeria’s private crypto market has exploded, with tens of millions using dollar‑pegged stablecoins (USDT, USDC) to hedge naira volatility.
Economists argue BRICS engagement could reduce import costs from partners like China and India, but only if supported by infrastructure upgrades, coordinated monetary policy, and restored private‑sector confidence. Otherwise, the gap between official rhetoric and user behavior will persist.
Kenya: Fintech Hub, “Wait and Integrate”
Kenya is considered one of Africa’s fintech hubs, targeting billions in investment and passing a Virtual Assets and Service Providers (VASP) law to regulate crypto businesses. The Central Bank of Kenya is building a fast payment system and takes part in the Pan‑African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) but remains cautious on CBDCs.
In practice, Kenyans are already onboarding on private blockchain rails like Base, Yellow Card, Flutterwave, Swypt, and other local alternatives. The BRICS payment system, if it lives up to its ambitions, will hypothetically be integrated into its vibrant digital asset ecosystem.
Ghana and WAEMU: Regional First
Ghana’s e‑Cedi project includes offline functionality for rural users, while the broader West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) launched the PI‑SPI instant payment platform across eight countries. These regional systems, alongside PAPSS, create a dense web of African payment infrastructure that any BRICS link must respect and interoperate with.
PAPSS vs. BRICS and Private Rails: Interoperability Over Replacement
Africa already has its own major cross‑border initiative: PAPSS (Pan‑African Payment and Settlement System), launched in 2022 by Afreximbank with the AfCFTA Secretariat. PAPSS allows settlement in local currencies and aims to save billions annually in fees. It is governed by African central banks and designed as the backbone for AfCFTA trade.
By contrast, BRICS payment architectures are driven mostly by founding powers like China and Russia. Analysts and African policy institutes stress that PAPSS should remain the core intra‑African rail, while any BRICS platform should be treated as an additional corridor for BRICS+ trade, not a substitute.
This raises hard technical and policy questions:
- How will exchange rates and liquidity be managed across PAPSS, BRICS rails, and private stablecoin systems?
- Who is responsible for AML/CFT and sanctions screening when multiple platforms are linked?
- How can African regulators prevent duplicative infrastructure from increasing complexity instead of reducing it?
Some researchers advocate a multipolar architecture: PAPSS at the center for intra‑Africa flows, regional systems like PI‑SPI at the sub‑regional level, and BRICS rails for external trade—connected through clear technical and legal protocols.
What does the other side of the page say?
Everything has two sides; overreliance on digital assets weakens fiat currency, hedging on Bitcoin risks a 40% decline, and it comes with the name.
The fact is simply switching away from the dollar does not automatically reduce risk. Commodities remain dollar-priced, and many BRICS currencies are less liquid and more volatile. China’s persistent trade surplus with Africa also caps how much yuan can circulate sustainably on the continent. Without deeper production and export diversification, there is a structural ceiling on how far non‑dollar settlement can go.
The question over the sovereignty of the BRICS payment system is also a concern. If payment infrastructure is built and hosted primarily in non‑African jurisdictions, Africa risks a new form of digital dependence. It’ll be a change in the name, but the same system.
Finally, the issue of implementation comes in. Africa remains heavily unbanked, and while mobile connectivity has improved, a large portion still has limited access. The BRICS payment system is designed for Beijing, Moscow, and, to some extent, “Africa’s Big Three.” What about others?
What This Means for Africa
For governments and central banks
- Adopt a multipolar posture: integrate PAPSS, BRICS rails, regional systems, and SWIFT instead of picking a single winner.
- Protect African governance: insist that any BRICS integration respects data residency and African regulatory authority.
- Use CBDC and payment pilots to build capacity, not just join branding exercises.
For fintechs and banks
- Make interoperability a core engineering goal: connect PAPSS, CIPS, SWIFT, and compliant stablecoin rails.
- Acknowledge user demand for dollar‑linked assets and design legal, compliant bridges rather than ignoring it.
For businesses and traders
- Diversify payment options and hedge currency risk.
- Pilot new rails in narrow, well‑defined corridors before scaling.
- Demand transparency on fees, FX handling, and data use from providers.
