In late 2025, BRICS quietly moved from idea into action. A working pilot of a gold-anchored digital trade instrument, known simply as “The Unit,” has been launched. While not designed to replace national currencies or enter public use yet, it offers a clear signal: emerging economies are actively exploring alternatives to the U.S. dollar.

The significance of the Unit goes beyond being just another currency in the market. For BRICS nations, it reflects a growing grievance with dollar dominance, including Western control over financial systems, exposure to sanctions, and dependence on U.S. monetary policy. While for the United States, successful de-dollarization would mean reduced global demand for the dollar, higher inflation, rising interest rates, and a gradual erosion of personal savings and retirement security.

What Is the Unit

BRICS now includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the UAE. The Unit is backed by a reserve basket of physical gold (40%) and BRICS currencies (60%), with gold serving as the stabilizing anchor. The pilot issued 100 Units, each pegged to one gram of gold, with daily adjustments based on the reserve basket.

Why BRICS Is Exploring Alternatives

The creation of the Unit represents an early move in a longer-term effort to reshape the global financial order.

Many BRICS countries face political and financial pressure, including the risk of sanctions, the impact of U.S. interest-rate decisions, and sudden shortages of U.S. dollars that can disrupt their economies. By reducing reliance on the dollar, BRICS nations aim to shield their economies from external threats and assert greater sovereignty over trade and geopolitical decision-making.

Dethroning the dollar is part of a broader push toward a multipolar global economy. Beyond the Unit, BRICS countries are growing the New Development Bank (a bank that offers an alternative to the IMF), making deals to trade each other’s money directly, and doing more business using their own local currencies. They are investing in infrastructure, technology, and energy projects across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. And creating an alternative system that challenges Western dominance in finance, trade, and development funding.

De-Dollarization Accelerates

After the 2022 sanctions on Russia, the Global South accelerated its shift away from the dollar. Russia and China now settle nearly all bilateral trade in rubles and yuan, while India and China increasingly use their own currencies. The dollar’s share of global reserves has fallen from 90% in 1960 to 45% by 2023. BRICS trade in local currencies has surged 20% year-over-year. Commodity purchases are also de-dollarizing. India, China, and Brazil are purchasing discounted Russian oil and gas in local currencies, while Saudi Arabia chips away at the petrodollar’s dominance by accepting payments in Chinese yuan.¹

Gold Moves from Reserve to Active Asset

The BRICS Unit puts gold directly at the center of trade settlement. BRICS central banks have been steadily increasing their gold reserves. International adoption of the Unit will require member nations to acquire even more physical gold. With the Unit’s growth tied to real supply, gold goes from a passive reserve to an active component of commerce. It can fuel a trend with long-term implications for gold demand, market liquidity, and investor strategy.

Political and Market Reactions

Investor concern over dollar debasement reached record levels in late 2025. Financial educator Robert Kiyosaki warned that a gold-backed BRICS Unit could accelerate dollar decline. He urged people to consider gold and silver as safe stores of value.²

BRICS leaders have been cautious. President Trump came out strongly against BRICS de-dollarization. He warned them to commit to not creating or supporting a BRICS currency to rival the dollar, or “you will face 100 percent tariffs” and “wave goodbye” to access to the U.S. market.³

Putin emphasized the goal is to counter weaponization of the dollar, not to abandon it. Their focus remains on using national currencies and the New Development Bank for settlement rather than replacing the dollar entirely. For now.

Economic Implications for U.S. Investors

If de-dollarization expands, the dollar’s reserve status could erode, leading to higher inflation, elevated interest rates, and reduced global demand for U.S. assets.

• Imports and Inflation: A weaker dollar pushes up import costs, particularly oil, driving consumer prices higher.
• Interest Rates & Federal Budgets: Persistent rates above 5% could strain budgets already exceeding 120% of GDP.
• GDP and Trade: Dollar volatility and lost trade advantages could weigh on growth over the next 10–30 years.

Retirement Portfolios at Risk

401(k)s, IRAs, and pensions that rely mostly on stocks and bonds could lose value and become more unstable as foreign money slows and inflation eats away at buying power. Retirees living on fixed income may struggle as everyday costs rise, while stock-heavy accounts could see short-term gains that are often wiped out by wider market swings.

Conclusion

By reducing dollar reliance, expanding alternative trade mechanisms, and investing in regional infrastructure, BRICS is laying the foundation for a multipolar economic order. The BRICS Unit is a cornerstone of that foundation.

Alternatives to the dollar are moving from theory to action, with gold at the center. As the Unit gains traction, gold prices could move even higher, making physical holdings in a Gold IRA a smart hedge against dollar weakness. To learn more about how you can protect the value of your portfolio from de-dollarization, contact American Hartford Gold today at 800-462-0071.

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Max Baecker is the President of American Hartford Gold (AHG), the nation’s largest retailer of precious metals. He leads American Hartford Gold’s mission to help clients achieve long-term financial security with physical gold and silver.

Under his guidance, American Hartford Gold has delivered billions of dollars’ worth of precious metals to thousands of satisfied clients.

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Notes

1. https://thetricontinental.org/wenhua-zongheng-2024-1-derisking-dedollarisation-brics-currency/

2. https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/33484457403273

3. https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/trump-threatens-100-tariff-on-the-bric-bloc-of-nations-if-they-act-to-undermine-us-dollar/