This article serves as a follow-up to our previous discussion on the topic “BRICS+ & Digital Currencies: Could a Multi-National Digital Currency Replace the US Dollar?” In this article, we delve deeper into the expertise of Deivison Arthur, who is a software engineer with over 20 years of experience specializing in E-commerce, Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), and blockchain technologies. He played a crucial role in developing Brazil’s first e-commerce platforms capable of transacting with Pix, processing over 1 billion reais in transactions since 2021.
Currently, Deivison is focused on building the ecosystem for Brazil’s new token economy, working with Pix and Drex (Real Digital). His work is centered on simplifying On-Ramp and Off-Ramp strategies while staying ahead of regulatory trends to ensure high levels of security.
Deivison leads a company (EBX (EB.TECH)) that offers white-label products, including HSMaaS (Hardware Security Module as a Service) for institutional wallet custody and BaaS solutions. The company also supports Wallet Connect integration, allowing customers to connect to marketplaces and decentralized apps (Dapps), using ERC4337 for interoperability with DeFi systems.
EBX – EB.TECH is the first Brazilian company to offer gamification for Phygital NFTs—NFTs linked to physical products—Deivison is reshaping the consumer landscape, empowering “investor consumers” who either use or resell NFTs. His commitment to innovation continues to shape the future of digital finance in Brazil and beyond.
BRICS Digital: The New Financial Infrastructure for Integrated Global Trade
Photo: mr.Ilkin/ Shutterstock
1. Introduction
The advancement of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is revolutionizing the global financial system. Meanwhile, governments debate CBDCs, privacy and regulations, but often get stuck in their own bureaucracies, holding back innovation, as network agnostic stablecoins already allow international transactions without the intrinsic need for the dollar as an intermediary. This ecosystem has demonstrated resilience even in the face of economic crises and attempts at regulatory repression.
The world is undergoing a significant transformation, moving towards a multipolar and for the construction of a new Bretton Woods 3.
Multipolarity, however, is a transitional stage and represents a form of creative destruction of capitalism (Schumpeter waves) or as predicted by Ray Dalio (Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order). Given this, it is essential to adopt hybrid and creative solutions that reduce dependence on traditional financial systems (such as the dollar). The best scenario today should not be the total removal of the dollar, but rather the removal of its protagonism and the decentralization of its power. In this context, the agnostic stablecoins stand out as an extremely efficient and agile solution, addressing the current challenges of the global financial system in a practical and innovative way. Below, I present an analysis of why the creation of a single currency for the BRICS may not be a practical or beneficial approach.
2. The BRICS Single Currency Problem
The idea of creating a single currency for the BRICS appears as an alternative to the dominance of the dollar, but this model presents more challenges than solutions.
- Bureaucratic Complexity: Creating a common currency between countries with different economies requires years of negotiations and regulations, delaying any real benefit.
- Conflicting Financial Systems: Each country has its own laws, rules, taxes and regulations, making it difficult to reach a consensus on how this currency would work in practice.
- Loss of Monetary Sovereignty: A shared currency would strip countries of their ability to control exchange rates and fiscal policies, as seen in weaker European Union economies under the euro system.
Therefore, creating a single currency for the BRICS does not solve the interoperability problem, in fact, it can make it even more bureaucratic and complex. Given this scenario, more agile and efficient alternatives need to be considered, without the need to impose a single currency for all BRICS. The experience of the euro in the European Union demonstrated the difficulties of this model, evidenced by economic inequality between countries, debt crises and rigid monetary policy.
3. Lessons from the European Union for the BRICS
The eurozone experience highlights key risks that BRICS nations should avoid:
3.1 Lack of Economic Policy Harmony
In the European Union, stronger economies, such as Germany, need to support economically weaker countries, such as Greece and Portugal. In the context of the BRICS, the creation of a single currency would also represent a risk of economic dependence due to the social and economic composition of each country.
3.2 Debt Crises and Financial Bailouts
The euro crisis in 2008-2012 showed that countries without control over their currencies are vulnerable in periods of crisis. If the BRICS adopted a similar model, weaker economies might need constant bailouts.
3.3 Differences in Monetary Policies
The lack of autonomy over interest rates harmed European Union countries. If the BRICS adopted this model, China and India could dominate monetary decisions, limiting the economic flexibility of Brazil, Russia and South Africa and other new countries that make up the bloc.
3.4 The UK’s Sterling Model
The UK never officially adopted the euro because it wanted to maintain its economic sovereignty. And when the people voted for Brexit in 2016, one of the main arguments was to regain full control over his monetary and fiscal policy. And these were the main reasons for keeping sterling and rejecting the euro:
- Monetary Autonomy: The United Kingdom wanted to maintain its own Central Bank to define economic policies aligned with its needs.
- Interest and Inflation Control: With the British pound, the Bank of England can increase or reduce interest rates depending on the country’s situation, without depending on the ECB.
- Less Dependence on Other Countries: The United Kingdom did not want to bear debts from weaker countries in the European Union.
- Exchange Rate Flexibility: The British government can devalue the pound to make its exports more competitive, something impossible within the eurozone.
So if the BRICS want to move forward with a common currency, they need to avoid the problems similarly faced by the eurozone. The case of the euro showed that a single currency only works if there is full political and economic integration—something that the BRICS are still far from achieving.
4. Solution: Network-Agnostic Stablecoins
In my personal opinion, I believe that the most viable solution would be the use of network-agnostic stablecoins, allowing each country to preserve its independence while facilitating trades between members through Liquidity Pools. Furthermore, this approach ensures interoperability with existing DeFi and CBDCs, promoting efficiency and accessibility in the financial ecosystem. The creation of a BRICS currency based on agnostic stablecoins can be done through a decentralized architecture, where each country would have its own stablecoin, but all would be integrated into an interoperable system. This approach avoids dependence on a specific blockchain network (such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain or Solana), allowing for multi-chain and cross-chain transactions.
4.1 Structure of National Stablecoins
Each country could develop or use an existing network-agnostic stablecoin (example of the use case in Brazil with BRZ), backed by its local currency:
- BRZ (Brazil) – Pegged to the Real
- RUB (Russia) – Pegged to the Ruble
- INR (India) – Pegged to the Rupee
- CNY (China) – Pegged to the Yuan
- ZAR (South Africa) – Pegged to the Rand
Countries that prohibit the use of stablecoins can adopt interoperability of their CBDCs as an alternative. One example is China, which has invested in the development of the digital yuan (e-CNY) to maintain control over its digital currency without relying on private stablecoins.
Furthermore, initiatives such as CNHC, a stablecoin backed by the offshore yuan, have gained relevance. In March 2023, CNHC attracted investments from companies such as KuCoin Ventures and Circle Ventures, demonstrating a growing interest in stablecoins pegged to the Chinese yuan, especially in the international market.
These network-agnostic stablecoins would operate across multiple blockchains, ensuring global liquidity and accessibility without dependence on a single infrastructure such as Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain.
The interoperable diversity and decentralization of stablecoins, networks and pools transform the decentralized environment into a vast experimental and multipolar laboratory. This scenario allows Stablecoins to stand out due to the legacy they have built, the ability to comply with regulations in their country and the technological excellence they develop. In addition to allowing FinTech to participate in the new digital economic transformation.
To ensure broader institutional adoption, DeFi has already overcome challenges such as security and compliance. The integration of KYC (Know Your Customer), KYT (Know Your Transaction) and Decentralized Digital Identity (DID) is consolidating a hybrid and efficient model known as CeDeFi (Centralized Decentralized Finance), ensuring the efficiency of network-agnostic stablecoins without compromising country regulatory compliance.
4.2. How would it work?
- Each country maintains its own agnostic stablecoin, backed by its local currency and issued in a regulated manner, maintaining debt or treasury securities as collateral.
- Liquidity Pools > Decentralized coins are designed to enable efficient conversion between stablecoins without the need for a central intermediary. Central banks, private banks and even institutional investors could provide liquidity to the pools, ensuring stability in exchange rates. In the case of network-agnostic stablecoins, these pools are already widely used, eliminating the need for intermediate conversion via dollars. Furthermore, the decentralization of multi-chain ecosystems and liquidity pools ensures secure fragmentation, reducing risks and increasing efficiency and agility in transactions.
- Use of DeFi to manage conversion and exchange rates, ensuring that each country maintains autonomy over its monetary policy, but can negotiate freely with other BRICS countries.
- KYC and Compliance via CeDeFi > Implementation of decentralized digital identity (DID) and KYC, ensuring security and compliance without compromising decentralization.
- Ensure that each country has the autonomy to define its monetary policy and adjust its economy as necessary.
- Use a system of interoperable stablecoins on different blockchains, allowing flexibility without harming national sovereignty.
4.2.1. Automated Market Makers (AMMs) Multi-Chain
Protocols like Uniswap, Curve and others allow direct conversions between stablecoins. Example: Exchange BRZ for ARZ without bank intermediaries.
4.2.2. Incentives via Yield Farming
DeFi already allows the provision of liquidity through Yield Farming, which encourages users to make assets available in pools, contributing to market stability and efficiency.
4.2.3. A crucial point that we must keep in mind when talking about cryptocurrencies is the warning raised by E. Snowden
This is because before we talk about “De-Dollarization” we need to be aware of the Strategic Cryptographic Transition, that is, “De-cryptographization”! Among the most alarming points of the revelations were the so-called backdoors — intentional loopholes inserted into systems, software and devices to allow access by intelligence agencies. These backdoors, often unknown to users, compromise privacy and digital security, opening the way for both government monitoring and possible intrusions by third parties. Snowden’s complaint showed that not even large technology companies were immune to pressure to collaborate with this type of surveillance. The case sparked global debate about digital freedom, technological sovereignty and post-quantum cryptography, highlighting the importance of secure, auditable solutions that are resistant to external interference — especially in times of the rise of quantum computing and the expansion of digital finance. The main lesson left by Snowden is clear: without strong encryption and decentralized control, there is no true security or privacy in the digital age. Thus, after Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013, several encryptions and cryptographic standards began to be questioned, revised and even discontinued due to suspicions of purposeful weakening (backdoors) or deliberate vulnerabilities inserted by intelligence agencies.
4.2.4. Asset Custody with HSMs as optional: Security, Sovereignty and Efficiency
Digital asset custody finds its best solution in the use of HSMs (Hardware Security Modules), which offer an ideal balance between security and incredible, simple usability. In addition to advanced protection, custody directly impacts national sovereignty. Some CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) require assets to be stored within the issuer’s territory. As HSMs are physical servers, they guarantee not only the security of assets, but also sovereign control over them on national soil. Another differentiator of HSMs is their redundancy capacity, allowing flexibility in the physical location of devices. For greater efficiency, they can be combined with Account Abstraction, significantly reducing operational and infrastructure costs. It is essential that HSMs (Hardware Security Modules) are designed and developed within the countries themselves, thus ensuring greater control over their architecture, firmware and manufacturing processes. This significantly reduces the risk of backdoors inserted by third parties and strengthens national digital sovereignty. Furthermore, having locally produced HSMs allows for greater transparency, auditability and alignment with specific regulations, in addition to promoting the national technology industry. In a scenario of growing concern about cybersecurity and the arrival of quantum computing, depending on foreign solutions becomes a strategic risk. Therefore, investing in the internal development of HSMs is a fundamental measure to protect critical infrastructures and sensitive digital assets.
4.2.5. The Case of Pix in Brazil
In Brazil, Pix already uses HSMs, incorporating a proxy layer that offers an exceptional level of security. To give you an idea, the global average for credit card fraud is 30 frauds for every 100,000 transactions, while on Pix, this number drops to just 7 frauds for every 100,000 transactions.
This low fraud rate is due to the proxy layer, which implements several security measures, such as:
- Definition of business hours and transaction limits, reducing risks.
- Registration of beneficiaries and suitability analysis, ensuring that only authorized users carry out transactions.
- Creation of wallets in the HSM using personal data, making them non-transferable and increasing system security.
HSMs have broadcasting update capabilities, allowing the rapid implementation of new encryption protocols (such as post-quantum) to always maintain security at maximum levels. It is essential to consider that, for those more familiar and comfortable with technology, self-custody should remain the main option.
However, HSMs are an ideal solution for the majority of citizens (+80%), who prefer not to take direct responsibility for the security of their assets and do not have sufficient technical knowledge to manage them securely. However, it is important to highlight that, to date, there are no self-custody initiatives that allow migration to post-quantum solutions, which could represent a future challenge in the security of digital assets. This is because both the network, assets and wallets need to be upgraded when migration to CPQ is required.
5. Benefits of Network Agnostic Stablecoins
- Monetary Autonomy: Reduces dependence on the dollar by allowing direct conversions between local currencies, strengthening the financial sovereignty of the BRICS.
- Decentralization and Security: Liquidity pools on interoperable blockchains eliminate centralized control, ensuring greater economic resilience.
- Exchange Efficiency: Direct conversion between currencies reduces costs and deadlines in international transactions, making the system more agile and accessible.
- Financial Inclusion: Companies and individuals can operate without the need for traditional banking intermediaries, expanding access to the financial system.
- Sanctions Resistance: Multi-chain and decentralized stablecoins offer greater protection against external economic restrictions.
- Exchange Flexibility via DeFi: Decentralized tools allow efficient management of conversions and exchange rates, ensuring that each country preserves its monetary policy while trading freely with other BRICS members.
- Security and Compliance: Adoption of decentralized digital identity (DID) and KYC via CeDeFi ensures regulatory compliance without compromising decentralization.
- Interoperability: Compatible with various blockchain networks, allowing transfers without the need for complex conversions.
- Improved Accessibility: Users can opt for blockchains with lower fees or higher speed, optimizing costs and performance.
- Risk Reduction: Diversification between multiple networks minimizes problems such as congestion and high gas fees.
- Efficiency in Payments and DeFi: They work fluidly in different decentralized financial ecosystems, promoting greater liquidity and usability.
- Use of Existing Infrastructure: There is no need to develop or maintain your own network, as the system uses already consolidated blockchains. The network that offers the best rate and speed conditions will naturally concentrate more liquidity, ensuring operational efficiency.
- Distributed Security: The multi-chain model, combined with several liquidity pools, increases security by decentralizing risks and failures. Any vulnerability is diluted between different networks, reducing negative impacts.
- Adaptation to Post-Quantum Cryptography: Being multi-chain, the system can migrate to networks that are already advanced in implementing post-quantum cryptography, such as Algorand. This flexibility not only ensures long-term security, but also optimizes resources by leveraging existing innovations. This is one of the most strategic aspects for the resilience and evolution of the ecosystem.
6. Transfero’s use case with Network Agnostic Stablecoins
Transfero, a company specializing in blockchain-based financial solutions, has excelled in facilitating cross-border transactions through network-agnostic stablecoins. These stablecoins are designed to operate on multiple blockchains, ensuring greater flexibility and efficiency in international operations.
Use Case: BRZ Stablecoin
A notable example is BRZ, a Brazilian stablecoin launched by Transfero in 2019, pegged to the real (BRL). BRZ allows users and companies to carry out international transactions more quickly and at reduced costs, eliminating the need to convert to strong currencies, such as the US dollar. Being network agnostic, BRZ operates on multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana and others, allowing users to choose the network that best meets their needs in terms of fees and speed.
In addition to BRZ, Transfero has expanded its stablecoin offering to serve other emerging markets. For example, the company launched ARZ, a stablecoin pegged to the Argentine peso (ARS), aiming to provide Argentines with a stable alternative for digital transactions and access to the global crypto market.
- Network Diversification: The ability to operate on multiple blockchains allows Transfero’s stablecoins to benefit from the specific advantages of each network, such as lower fees or faster transaction speeds.
- Resilience and Security: Diversification between different blockchains increases the security and resilience of transactions, mitigating risks associated with possible failures or vulnerabilities in a single network.
- Global Accessibility: Users from different regions can choose the blockchain that best suits their needs and local infrastructure, facilitating adoption and financial inclusion.
3. And after the agnostic stablecoin, what next?
The next step for the bloc is to advance the development of a digital economic zone, with digital economic districts based on the concept of startup societies. This tokenization process is directly linked to tax benefits, seeking not only to serve residents of the bloc’s member countries, but also to create a structure that facilitates the adhesion of companies and individuals from anywhere in the world. (f.e. Estonian E-Residency).
There are already several private experiments in this direction, such as pop-up cities (experimental and temporary cities), the concepts of network state and cryptonations. In this context, the transition to a model based on DAOs and open governance becomes essential to improve collective decision-making through plebiscites and strengthen the block’s governance. One of the most strategic aspects of this advancement is the inclusion of companies, including from countries that are not part of the BRICS bloc, but that share its objectives and visions.
This expansion strengthens the global influence of the BRICS, allowing their actions to transcend national borders and its cooperation with the Global Majority. Furthermore, with the evolution of artificial intelligence, moving away from neuro-symbolic concepts and classical computing, we can envision a not-so-distant future in which a hybrid CBDC appears operating under an algorithmic autarky model, culminating in sovereign decentralization.
8. Conclusion
That said, the creation of a single currency for the BRICS faces complex challenges. A more efficient approach is the adoption of network-agnostic stablecoins and decentralized liquidity pools, ensuring fast, secure and intermediary-free transactions. This model combines monetary autonomy, exchange rate efficiency and financial inclusion, creating a new infrastructure for global trade. BRZ and other network-agnostic stablecoins already prove the viability of this strategy. The future of international transactions between the BRICS will be digital, decentralized and interoperable—and network-agnostic stablecoins are the key to this transformation.
Deivison Arthur (Photo: LinkedIn)
* Deivison Arthur is BRICS Committee Co-Chair, International Digital Economies Association – iDEA – and Co-Founder & CIO – EB.TECH.
