The Role of BRICS in Global Crypto Adoption

This article was first published on Deythere.

BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), the five biggest emerging markets economies comprising about half the world population and a third of global GDP have more say in how fast or slow crypto adoption moves worldwide.

Chainalysis ranked India, Brazil and Russia among the top 10 countries for cryptocurrency use in 2025, spelling their prominence. Recent discussions at BRICS summit meetings have prioritized blockchain-based payment platforms and local-currency trade as these nations seek to lessen dependence on the U.S. dollar.

So in Brazil for one, they are making it easier to deal with cross-border payments using national currency and at the same time, they’re looking into exploring blockchain technology. China, meanwhile, also a BRICS member; has an outright ban on private cryptocurrencies but is pushing ahead with its digital yuan and even considering plans for the creation of a yuan-backed stablecoin.

This blend of high adoption (India, Brazil, Russia) and conservative policy (China, parts of India) makes BRICS crypto adoption a mixed but critical ingredient in global crypto dynamics.

Recent Developments Across BRICS

Russia has passed a law that will permit cryptocurrencies in international trade to dodge sanctions, and Brazil’s central bank is getting ready to regulate stablecoins. India, now seen by some estimates as the world’s largest cryptocurrency market is evaluating its position as moods change worldwide.

For its part, the BRICS grouping is developing a cross-border payment mechanism (“BRICS Pay”) that will be incorporated into national rails such as Russia’s SPFS, China’s CIPS, India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix.

These developments, from regulatory overhauls to new infrastructure, demonstrate how efforts to adopt crypto across the BRICS world are propelling cryptocurrency’s march around the globe.

BRICS Crypto Adoption and Its Impact on the Global Markets

The BRICS is leading crypto boom in the emerging markets. India is #1, while Brazil is #5 and Russia #10 according to Chainalysis’s 2025 Crypto Adoption Index.

China is notably absent, in part because of a ban it instituted last year on private crypto trading, and South Africa doesn’t yet crack the top 20 by Chainalysis.

These rankings illustrate that the BRICS nations, particularly those in Asia and Latin America, are emerging as some of the fastest-growing crypto markets. In mid 2025, Asia-Pacific’s crypto transaction volume shot up 69% (to $2.36trillion) and in Latin America it rose by 63%; BRICS members provided much of this growth.

BRICS crypto adoption is moving strongly with the Global South, where many residents of BRICS countries see crypto as a way to pay for goods and services, send money home and invest.

Table: Crypto Adoption Index for BRICS Nations (Chainalysis 2025)

It’s not just in raw numbers that BRICS nations’ influence is felt in crypto. Many are testing blockchain for practical applications.

For example, Brazil’s instant payments system, known as Pix, which has already outstripped cash and is being designed to interact with systems in other countries. India’s UPI, and China’s UnionPay/CIPS would similarly be potential backbones of a BRICS-wide network.

As expert analysts mention, BRICS crypto acceptance is driven by these practical needs: reducing transaction fees and circumventing legacy rails. According to Fedor Ivanov of Shard, the leaders of BRICS are intending to implement a fiat-based “BRICS Bridge” payment system with CBDCs and blockchain which would bypass high fees and the use of SWIFT (and therefore the dollar).

BRICS Payment Innovations and De-Dollarization

BRICS is looking towards not a single currency, but alternative payment systems using blockchain and local currencies instead. Brazil’s 2025 BRICS presidency explicitly rejected a shared digital currency but is pushing reforms to ease cross-border trade in local currencies.

The Kazan (2024) and São Paulo (2025) summits adopted a communique in support of a single BRICS payment system, and a greater volume of trade denominated in national currencies.

Leaders reportedly agreed to explore technical connections between the various existing national systems (Russia’s SPFS, China’s CIPS, India’s UPI) in order to create an interoperable cross-border network.

Importantly, BRICS talks have welcomed blockchain technology. Brazilians say they will “‘study”’ blockchain to cut transaction costs, and a prototype system called “BRICS Pay” was exhibited in Moscow at the end of 2024.

This decentralized messaging infrastructure is intended to be an open source protocol with nodes in each country. Theoretically, such a system could handle tens of thousands of messages per second operating on micropayments.

China’s digital yuan and Brazil’s digital real are an indication of a move to blockchain-enabled settlements, which might give rise to a BRICS-type arrangement, comments a GIS analysis.

The objective is straightforward; facilitate the BRICS companies to directly transact using rupee, reals, rubles and so on eliminating the trade friction and dependence on the US Dollar. The focus is on “reducing friction for global trade”, not aiming at any specific currency.

Country Cues for Crypto: Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and the US

The BRICS nations range significantly in terms of crypto policy and motivation and that affects the way they contribute to global adoption:

India is the home of the world’s largest grassroots usage of crypto with demand coming from smaller users and retailers. However, policymakers are cautious. A senior official said in early 2025 that India is reviewing its crypto stance as geopolitical shifts sweep the world.

A confidential government document (Sept 2025) confirms India’s preference for limited oversight. Reports claim its ministers fear that fully regulating the space by creating a framework to legitimize crypto would open the door to economic risks.

India has high taxes for crypto traders, and strict reporting rules; adoption is largely led by retail. While the government is cautious, India has billions of dollars invested in crypto and debate over regulation rages on.

Brazil has embraced innovate in payments. Its Pix instant-pay system is already world-leading. The central bank is aiming to regulate stablecoins and tokenized assets in 2025; even eyeing tax for international crypto transfers.

This mirrors Brazil’s mixed approach; crypto is a useful tool but requires oversight. Brazilian lawmakers have cautioned that most of the transactions in the country migrated to USDT-related stablecoins, rather than Bitcoin.

But the demand is increasing: trading of the currencies in Brazil reached a record high in 2025, led by so-called stablecoins that are backed by reserves, as regulators ready new rules to plug loopholes.

Russia has been aggressive about using crypto to try to get around sanctions. Last year, they passed a law that would permit cryptocurrency payments in international trade. The central bank was ordered to develop an “experiment” with a crypto infrastructure by the end of the year.

President Putin had signed legislation legalizing crypto mining and cross-border crypto transactions. These measures are designed to unfreeze trade with partners, such as China and India. Already, 90% of Russia’s trade with fellow BRICS countries is conducted in national currencies and crypto is seen as another de-dollarizing weapon.

China is the outlier. It has long-prohibited private crypto trading but aggressively working on its own digital yuan CBDC. Beijing touts the yuan for trade with other BRICS and has even floated a yuan-backed “stablecoin”.

Essentially, China wants to encourage blockchain innovation (the country is No. 1 in blockchain patents filed around the world) while maintaining state control of digital assets. China’s stance is about state currencies, not Bitcoin and Ethereum Not a political move against crypto as have been suggested by some geopolitical commentators around the world.

South Africa has an expanding retail crypto sector . Latest data consists of millions of South Africans crypto trades (with a spike in stablecoin volumes). The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) however said there are risks that unregulated crypto could evade capital controls. New rules are anticipated, regulating the trade of crypto cross-border and bringing stablecoins under the FX regime.

In short, South African regulators are keeping pace with a fast-growing market.

Expert Take: Geopolitics, CBDCs and Crypto

Experts say BRICS crypto adoption is as much geopolitics, as technology,  Wholesale CBDCs and blockchain are expected to prop up the planned BRICS payments platform (“BRICS Bridge”), bypassing SWIFT and the dollar in theory, notes Fedor Ivanov (Shard).

He says if BRICS nations are able to successfully launch their CBDCs, the allure of stablecoins may diminish. Users might choose state-run digital coins which are not at risk of being frozen for political reasons. The dominance of USDT (Tether), heavily used by sanctioned nations, may remain challenged as countries deploy their own currencies.

Nevertheless, Ivanov foresees that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin will continue being seen as decentralized repositories of value for investors. He warns that the major economies of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, etc.), “are “very suspicious of cryptocurrencies and could even outlaw them when their CBDCs go into circulation.

Geopolitically, it is believed that BRICS crypto moves are a rival to the domination of Western money. Russia is pushing for alternative payment systems because it has a real incentive to move away from trading in the US dollar on the back of sanctions.

Analysts note that no BRICS member on its own can dethrone the dollar, but collectively they are working on alternative mechanisms. Western officials have cautioned that the BRICS crypto roll-out (especially a common currency) could be met with retaliation.

President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on the BRICS if they started “playing games with the dollar”. With that in mind, experts stress, BRICS initiatives will proceed cautiously and with extensive testing of payment bridges and local-currency trade before there are any wholesale departures from long-established systems.

Challenges and Prospects for BRICS Crypto Adoption

Despite momentum, obstacles remain. Practically speaking, integrating different systems is really hard. Each BRICS member has its own tech and security standards, not to mention banks’ adherence to the financial rules of their host countries.

Politically, the bloc is not uniform. India, Brazil and South Africa have tended to be more pragmatic and Western-leaning, while China and Russia are more aggressive about financial sovereignty. This also means that any BRICS payment network could be a compromise among conflicting interests. 

And replacing the US dollar would be a huge headache. The dollar is still entrenched in trade contracts and reserves around the world. Even in BRICS itself, leaders have admitted that they’re not ditching the dollar any time soon. 

That being said,  BRICS crypto adoption is advancing. The rollout of CBDCs (e-rupee in India, digital ruble in Russia next year, pilot digital real in Brazil) and regulatory clarity around crypto in several BRICS countries will make these economies more crypto-friendly

Conclusion

BRICS crypto adoption is gaining ground as emerging economies create new payment systems and digital currencies. BRICS countries India, Brazil and Russia are already among the world’s fastest-growing crypto markets as other members such as China and South Africa fine-tune policies to manage adoption safely.

Analysts think such steps would slowly wean reliance away from the dollar, but any joint BRICS strategy on crypto is going to be cautious and phased.

While there are still many hurdles to overcome, these initiatives are helping to transform BRICS into a powerhouse within the crypto-sphere.

Glossary

BRICS: The term “BRICS” is an acronym representing an economic bloc of emerging nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) that are considered to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development. 

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC): A digital version of a country’s own sovereign currency that is an alternative to cash issued by the central bank.

Stablecoin: A kind of cryptocurrency that’s built to keep its value the same by pegging it to an external asset (such as the U.S. dollar or gold) or based on an algorithmic formula. 

De-dollarization: Efforts to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar for international trade and reserves. BRICS nations have addressed de-dollarization through local currencies and new payment mechanisms to bypass sanctions or dollar instability.

Cross-country Payment System: A Financial system that permits the transfer of money between countries.

Frequently Asked Questions About BRICS Crypto Adoption

Which BRICS member is the most crypto-friendly?

India ranks number one globally in the Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index 2025, while Brazil and Russia also feature in top 10. The reason each of these countries is at such a high ranking is due to their large populations and active crypto markets.

What is the BRICS Pay system?

BRICS Pay (or the BRICS Bridge), is a proposed blockchain network for cross-border payments that would interlink similar domestic payment systems already in use across BRICS nations. It would enable transactions in national currencies with encrypted, distributed ledgers. Analysts say it could save money and skirt SWIFT by connecting platforms such as Russia’s SPFS, China’s CIPS, India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix.

Will BRICS launch a joint cryptocurrency?

There is also no imminent joint BRICS digital currency in the making. BRICS is more about settling transactions in local currencies, and connecting payment systems.

Why are BRICS nations increasingly interested in cryptocurrency and blockchain.

For many BRICS economies, crypto and digital currencies are a means of facilitating trade and lessening reliance on the U.S. dollar. For instance, as sanctions against Russia revealed the exposure inherent in dollar-based systems, Russia (and others) looked to crypto for international settlements. On the other hand, blockchain can also enable faster and cheaper cross-border payments in line with BRICS’s aim for more financial sovereignty.

References

Reuters

Chainalysis

Gisreportsonline

Cfr

Uabonline