The final blow to the empire of chaos: The dollar is collapsing – What the BRICS are preparing

The oligarchy that effectively controls the "Empire of Chaos" has pressed the panic button as the structural features of its global hegemony appear to be under serious challenge. The petrodollar is one of the core characteristics of this supremacy: a recycling machine that directs the relentless purchase of US bonds, which are then spent on endless wars. Any player considering diversifying from this frenetic machine faces asset freezes, sanctions, or even worse. At the same time, the Empire of Chaos can no longer project raw power as it exposes its limitations on the black soil of Ukraine.

Dominance requires constantly expanding resources—primarily seized resources—alongside the non-stop printing of dollars to cover astronomical debts. Furthermore, borrowing from the world serves as a financial containment strategy to isolate rivals. However, a decision is now mandatory—an inevitable structural constraint. They must either continue astronomical spending on military dominance (as suggested by Trump's $1.5 trillion budget for the Department of War) or continue to dominate the international financial system.

Ukraine is expendable

The Empire of Chaos cannot do both. Therefore, when the calculations were made, Ukraine became expendable, at least theoretically. Against the weaponization of the US Treasury bond system—de facto monetary imperialism—the BRICS embody the strategic choice of the Global South, coordinating a move toward alternative payment systems.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the freezing—effectively the theft—of Russian assets after removing a nuclear/hypersonic power, Russia, from SWIFT. It is now clear that Central Banks worldwide are shifting toward gold, bilateral agreements, and the exploration of alternative payment systems. As the first serious structural shock to the system since the end of World War II, the BRICS are not openly trying to overthrow the system, but to build a viable alternative with large-scale infrastructure financing bypassing the US dollar.

The role of Venezuela

Venezuela now represents a critical case: Can a major oil producer survive outside the US dollar system without being destroyed? The Empire of Chaos has ruled "No." The Global South must prove it wrong. Venezuela was not previously so critical on the geopolitical chessboard, as it represented only 4% of China's oil imports. The case of Iran, however, is decisive, as 95% of its oil is sold to China and settled in yuan, not US dollars. But Iran is not Venezuela. The last coordinated failure of a regime change operation in Iran, involving the desperate presence of a mini-Shah in Maryland, failed miserably. However, the threat of war remains.

BRICS Pay, The Unit, or CIPS?

The US dollar now represents less than 40% of global currency reserves—the lowest percentage in at least 20 years. Gold now represents more global reserves than the euro, yen, and sterling combined. Central Banks are hoarding gold frantically, while BRICS accelerate tests of alternative payment systems in what I call "the BRICS laboratory." One of the scenarios proposed directly to the BRICS as an alternative to the overloaded SWIFT, which processes at least $1 trillion in transactions daily, is the introduction of a non-sovereign, blockchain-based trade token.

This is "The Unit"

The Unit, correctly described as "apolitical money," is not a currency but a unit of account used for settlement in trade and finance among participating countries. The token can be linked to a commodity basket or a neutral index to prevent dominance by any single country. In this case, it would function like the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) but within a BRICS framework. There is also mBridge—which is not part of the "BRICS laboratory"—involving a multi-central digital currency (CBDC) shared among participating central and commercial banks.

mBridge includes only five members, but these include powerful players such as the Digital Currency Institute of the People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Another 30 countries are interested in joining. However, mBridge was the inspiration behind the BRICS Bridge, which is still in the testing phase and aims to accelerate a series of international payment mechanisms: money transfers, payment processing, and account management. It is a very simple system: instead of converting currencies into US dollars for international trade, BRICS countries exchange their currencies directly.

The BRICS Development Bank (NDB), or the BRICS bank, founded in Shanghai in 2015, should be the primary connection hub for the BRICS Bridge. However, it is currently on standby—as all NDB regulations are linked to the US dollar, and this must be reassessed. With the NDB integrated into the broader financial infrastructure of BRICS member countries, the bank should be able to handle currency conversion, clearing, and settlement through the BRICS Bridge. But we are still far from that.

BRICS Pay: A strategic infrastructure for the future

BRICS Pay is a different venture: a strategic infrastructure to create a "decentralized, sustainable, and inclusive" financial system among BRICS+ countries and their partners. BRICS Pay is in a pilot phase until 2027. By then, member states should begin discussing an agreement to install a settlement mechanism for BRICS trade by 2030 at the latest. Again, this will not be a global reserve currency. It will be a mechanism offering a "parallel, compatible option" to SWIFT within the BRICS ecosystem.

BRICS Pay, for now, is also a very simple system: for example, tourists and business travelers can use it without opening local bank accounts or exchanging currencies. They simply connect their Visa or Mastercard to the BRICS Pay app and use it for payments via QR code. And this is exactly the critical problem: how to bypass Visa and Mastercard, which are under the supervision of the US financial system, and integrate the cards of BRICS members, such as UnionPay (China) and Mir (Russia). For larger and more complex transactions, the problem of bypassing SWIFT remains.

All these "test" mechanisms of the BRICS laboratory must solve two basic problems: messaging interoperability—through secure and standardized data formats—and the processing of the actual settlement, meaning how funds move through Central Bank accounts while bypassing the inevitable threat of sanctions.

Internationalization of the Yuan or a New Global Monetary Reserve?

The unsurpassed Professor Michael Hudson is at the global forefront of studying solutions to limit the hegemony of the US dollar. He is adamant that "the line of least resistance is to follow the existing Chinese system." This means CIPS—the Chinese Cross-Border Interbank Payment System—based on the yuan, which is already extremely popular and used by participants in 124 countries of the Global South. Professor Hudson insists that "it is very difficult to create an alternative solution."

The principle of The Unit, which is cited to be 40% gold and the rest in member currencies, is good. But this is better done through a new Keynes-type central bank to define debts and payment claims to regulate imbalances between participating countries—in the direction of the Bancor. The Bancor was proposed by Keynes at the Bretton Woods conference in 1944 to prevent serious imbalances in external balances, protectionism, and the fraud of nations acting as tax havens. It is no surprise that hyper-hegemonic America at the end of World War II vetoed it.

In a new paper on the Weaponization of the Oil Trade as the basis of the US global order, Professor Hudson clarifies how "the freedom to export oil from Russia and Venezuela has weakened the ability of US officials to use oil as a weapon to pressure other economies by threatening energy withdrawal, which has destroyed German industry and price levels. This supply of oil not controlled by the US is considered a violation of the US rules-based order." This brings us to one of the key reasons for the BRICS push toward alternative payment systems: the US foreign policy of creating choke points to keep other countries dependent on oil under US control.

What is the strategic response?

Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr, one of the co-founders of the NDB and its vice president from 2015 to 2017, moves in parallel with Professor Hudson, designing a viable path for the creation of a new international currency. Viewing the US dollar system as "inefficient, unreliable, and dangerous," and as a tool for blackmail and sanctions, Batista Jr summarizes the situation: "The only scenario that could present some viability would be the large-scale internationalization of the Chinese currency. But there is still a long way to go to replace the dollar significantly. And the Chinese are reluctant to attempt it."

Batista Jr proposes a solution very similar to Hudson's: "A group of Global South countries, something like 15 to 20 nations including most BRICS countries and other middle-income developing nations," can be at the forefront of creating a new currency. However, "a new international financial institution must be created—an issuing bank, whose sole and exclusive function will be the issuance and circulation of the new currency."

This looks a lot like the Bancor: "The issuing bank will not replace national central banks, and its currency will circulate alongside other national and regional currencies. It will be limited to international transactions, without having a domestic role." Batista Jr clarifies that "the currency will be based on a weighted basket of currencies of the participating countries and will therefore fluctuate based on changes in those currencies. Since all currencies in the basket will be floating or flexible, the new currency will also be a monetary currency."

Inevitably, "the high weight of the Chinese currency, issued by a country with a strong economy, will strengthen confidence in the base and the new reserve currency." Batista Jr is fully aware of the risk of negative reactions from the West, which may resort to threats and sanctions against the countries involved. However, the time for action is pressing: "Will we gather the economic, political, and intellectual efforts to exit this trap? The costs of maintaining Hegemony are becoming prohibitive. The BRICS, gathering forces for their annual summit later this year in India, must exploit the fact that we are approaching the decisive moment of structural transformation when the Empire of Chaos will lose the ability to unilaterally impose its will—unless through generalized war."

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