BRICS Pay benefits — the full breakdown

When you read “benefits of a payment system”, you usually see a string of pretty words: “universal”, “secure”, “modern”. None of that means anything. Real benefits are concrete processes where you save time or money. Below are seven such benefits, each with numbers and explanation.

1. Universality and integration with existing systems

BRICS Pay does not build a “parallel world” — it connects existing payment systems of member countries into a single network. In practice, one app houses Russia’s SBP (Bank of Russia’s faster-payments system), India’s UPI (Unified Payments Interface — a national instant network with 500M+ users), Brazil’s Pix, China’s UnionPay and WeChat Pay, and South Africa’s PayShap.

What this means for users: one app works in every BRICS+ country. No installing ten apps, no registering a local account in each country. Link your card once — use it everywhere. It’s like one phone number working in any country thanks to roaming.

2. Multi-currency support

In the B2B segment BRICS Pay supports 23 currencies: USD, EUR, CNY (yuan), RUB (rouble), INR (Indian rupee), BRL (Brazilian real), ZAR (South African rand), AED (UAE dirham), EGP (Egyptian pound) and many others. In retail — every member-state currency.

Why this matters: in standard international trade almost everything is settled in dollars. If a Brazilian company sells to an Indian one, the typical path is: real → dollar → rupee. Double conversion, each costing 1–2% plus bank fees. Through BRICS Pay the path is direct: real ↔ rupee. No double conversion, 2–4% saved per transaction.

For a single company that may be small change on one deal, but across a million-dollar annual turnover it’s tens of thousands of dollars in pure savings. Across all intra-BRICS trade (≈USD 600 bn a year) that is 12–24 bn potentially staying inside member countries instead of going to Western financial intermediaries.

3. Lower cross-border transfer costs

A typical SWIFT international transfer loses 4–6% in fees and takes 1–5 working days. That is because between your bank and the recipient’s bank sits a chain of 3–4 correspondent banks, each charging a fee (usually USD 15–30 fixed plus 1–2%).

In BRICS Pay the chain is shorter — only 2 banks (yours and the recipient’s), no Western correspondents. Pilot data show 30–50% lower cost and time down to minutes or hours instead of days. Additional FX (currency conversion) savings of 8–15% thanks to direct national-currency settlement without going through the dollar.

4. Innovative technologies — what that actually means

“Innovative” is usually a vague word, but in BRICS Pay’s case it refers to three concrete technologies:

• Blockchain — a secure distributed database. Every operation is written into an immutable log that cannot be forged after the fact. Same technology as bitcoin, but used for a different purpose — to keep the inter-bank transaction journal.
• CBDC integration — central-bank digital currencies. Electronic money issued not by a bank but by a country’s central bank (e.g. the digital rouble). BRICS Pay is built to work with the digital rouble, digital yuan (e-CNY), digital rupee (e-INR) and others.
• Stablecoin support — cryptocurrencies pegged to a fixed price. For example NSRT S — a stablecoin pegged to the IMF SDR basket (five major world currencies: USD, EUR, CNY, JPY, GBP). Used as a “bridge currency” when settling between different CBDCs.

For users it all happens under the hood — you just pay by QR, and the system picks the best technology for the specific transaction.

5. Support for international trade

About USD 600 bn — the annual trade turnover between BRICS+ countries. Most of it still flows through Western financial systems, creating two risks: high cost and dependence on political decisions.

BRICS Pay gives companies an alternative channel. Especially important in fast-growing segments: cross-border e-commerce (a Russian seller on an Indian platform, a Chinese supplier to a Brazilian retailer), services (IT outsourcing, design, consulting) and trade finance — financing of international contracts.

6. Accessibility for different users

The minimum B2B settlement in BRICS Pay is USD 2,000. Deliberately low so that SMEs can use the system on a par with corporations. For comparison: many traditional international settlements only make economic sense from USD 10,000 — below that, fixed bank fees eat all the savings.

The retail segment (BRICS Pay App) is free for individuals: you only pay for what you buy in the shop, no monthly subscriptions or membership fees. Download, sign-up, KYC, card linking — all free.

7. Security and regulatory compliance

Payment-system security is not one technology but a stack of layers:

• Blockchain — an immutable journal of all operations. You can’t “edit” a past payment.
• End-to-end encryption — data travels between servers and devices unreadable to outsiders.
• Multi-factor authentication (2FA) — login requires at least two “proofs”: password + SMS code, or biometrics.
• KYC (Know Your Customer) — mandatory identity verification via passport photo and selfie, like a bank.
• AML (Anti-Money Laundering) — algorithms catching laundering attempts and blocking suspicious transactions.
• FATF and OFAC compliance — international AML standard and the US sanctions list. You can’t move “dirty” money or pay sanctioned entities through the system.

All these layers run simultaneously. Users don’t notice them — they only kick in when something goes off plan.