Leaders from BRICS met in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and demanded controls on how artificial intelligence uses data, while still getting nowhere on the cross-border payments system they’ve been promising since 2015. According to Reuters , the bloc released a draft statement calling for protection against unauthorized data scraping and demanding fair compensation from tech companies training AI on unlicensed content. These demands come as AI models built by US and European firms continue to mine global content with little oversight or payment. The two-day BRICS summit included multiple closed-door meetings on AI and digital regulation. But behind that digital talk was yet another stall-out on a bigger goal: removing the US dollar from trade between BRICS nations. Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, along with the newer members like Iran, have now spent a decade floating a cross-border payments system. Brics fails to deliver on payment system after decade of talk At the summit’s opening in Brazil, BRICS members recommitted to the so-called BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative, which has been under discussion since 2015. They assigned finance ministers and central bank heads to continue debating it. A survey from Brazil’s central bank was circulated, but no decisions were made, and no deadlines were set. The delay comes as President Donald Trump’s policies hammer the global position of the dollar. The greenback had its worst Q1 performance since 1973. Trump’s trade war and pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve rattled investors and weakened confidence in American assets. With Wall Street bleeding, emerging markets had a clear opening, but BRICS couldn’t act fast enough. All ten BRICS nations have agreed on the need for non-dollar trade, but technical issues keep getting in the way. Three officials said central banking infrastructure in some member states is still not ready. Integrating systems between countries with non-convertible currencies, like Iran’s rial or Russia’s ruble, has slowed everything. And sanctions on Russia and Iran have raised legal and compliance concerns for the rest of the bloc. Even deciding how to share the cost of new infrastructure is causing friction. Two officials said there’s disagreement on how to build, pay for, and govern any shared payment network. The bloc’s recent expansion only made things harder. One member said some countries don’t even believe the benefits of a unified system are worth the cost. Their existing bilateral trade deals work just fine without extra tech. None of the officials wanted to speak publicly, but confirmed that progress will remain slow. China expands yuan as Trump issues 100% threat While others drag their feet, China is pushing ahead. Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, announced new plans to expand the yuan’s reach. In a recent speech, Pan said China’s financial markets would open further to global investors. Beijing is also launching its first domestic currency futures, aimed at competing with products in Chicago and Singapore. Its payment system, CIPS, is now expanding to include more foreign banks. Trump, now in his second term in the White House, isn’t staying quiet. He’s threatened to slap 100% tariffs on any BRICS country that tries to bypass the dollar in trade. That threat has added urgency to talks within BRICS, but hasn’t stopped them. Officials said the dollar-retirement discussions are still going — even if painfully slow. The bloc also introduced a proposal for the New Investment Platform (NIP), meant to ease reliance on dollar-denominated financing. But it’s already stuck in early-stage debates. A document seen by Bloomberg allegedly showed that countries can’t agree on how to run it or what exactly it would fund. “Given the variety of approaches and proposals raised, and the complex nature of the issues involved, further technical dialogue will be essential,” the document said. Brazilian official Tatiana Rosito, who works in the Finance Ministry, said the goal is to avoid converting through dollars when trading. “Banks say that, depending on the period in which you carry out the operation, they may need to use the rate converting renminbi to dollars,” Tatiana said in an interview. “But the goal in the end is you one day don’t have it.” Tatiana added that with enough volume in trade and investments, it may become possible to have direct rates between local currencies like real-renminbi, real-rupee, and real-rand. But there’s no timeline. No commitment. Just hypotheticals. The BRICS statement also pointed out that interest rate hikes in wealthy economies are deepening debt crises in developing ones. “High interest rates and tighter financing conditions worsen debt vulnerabilities in many countries,” it said. To address this, BRICS announced a Multilateral Guarantees Initiative called BMG, which will be rolled out inside the New Development Bank (NDB). The program won’t need new capital contributions for now. Its goal is to boost credit access in member nations and across the Global South, especially those struggling to raise funds in hard currency markets. Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More
