The only reason the alliances aren’t formally broken is because moving investments and reorganizing supplies takes time. At least from the European perspective, it’s only a matter of time; the moves to abandon Visa and Mastercard can only be interpreted that way.
This exactly. I find it completely baffling that people are talking about this stuff like its as simple as changing your mobile internet provider or cancelling your Amazon account.
SWIFT operates as a centralized hub-and-spoke model. For a bank in Brazil to send money to a bank in India, the message must pass through SWIFT’s secure servers in Belgium, and the actual money often passes through “correspondent” banks in the U.S. or Europe.
BRICS Pay uses a Decentralized Cross-border Messaging System (DCMS). There is no central owner or hub. Instead, it uses a “fractal topology” where each participating bank manages its own node. This makes the system resistant to external interference or being “shut off” by a central authority.
SWIFT is not a payment system; it is a messaging system. It sends the “instruction” to move money, but the actual settlement can take 1–5 business days as it hops between multiple intermediary banks.
BRICS Pay is designed to be an end-to-end settlement system. By using blockchain and distributed ledgers, it can settle transactions in real-time (seconds to minutes) because it records the value transfer directly on a shared ledger rather than waiting for bank-to-bank reconciliations.
SWIFT is heavily reliant on the U.S. Dollar as the primary reserve currency. Most international SWIFT transfers require a conversion into USD at some point in the chain, adding exchange fees and making the system sensitive to U.S. sanctions.
BRICS Pay is built specifically for Local Currency Settlement (LCS). The blockchain tech acts as a “bridge” that allows direct conversion between, for example, the Brazilian Real and the Indian Rupee without needing the U.S. Dollar as an intermediary.
Key here is decentralization and freedom from US hegemony.
moving investments and reorganizing supplies takes time.
This is a salient point. Back in February 2025 when Donald decided to start imposing unilateral tariffs, other countries started crafting new trade agreements. Those take 1.5 to 2 years to take effect, so everything Donald is doing is, essentially, a time bomb that’s going to go off after 2026 whether it’s the BBB or our former allies rerouting trade around the US and through China. The vast majority of Americans don’t have any real knowledge of what these things mean or Donald would be even more unpopular than he is now.
In 2028 the new order in the world will probably unrecognizable compared to 2024, and it could be a very bad thing. We Americans have been lucky in that most of us have never experienced real war and can’t contextualize it, and that could change in the very near future.
Took me just a couple of hours to move all my investments out of the USA and to Europe/Rest of World. Sell all funds that had any investment in USA and move them into ex-USA funds/shares.
The only reason the alliances aren’t formally broken is because moving investments and reorganizing supplies takes time. At least from the European perspective, it’s only a matter of time; the moves to abandon Visa and Mastercard can only be interpreted that way.
This exactly. I find it completely baffling that people are talking about this stuff like its as simple as changing your mobile internet provider or cancelling your Amazon account.
BRICS is also making strides towards dedollarization and alternative payment systems (bypassing SWIFT) based on blockchain technology.
Oh is it 2018 again
Sorry I should elaborate:
SWIFT operates as a centralized hub-and-spoke model. For a bank in Brazil to send money to a bank in India, the message must pass through SWIFT’s secure servers in Belgium, and the actual money often passes through “correspondent” banks in the U.S. or Europe.
BRICS Pay uses a Decentralized Cross-border Messaging System (DCMS). There is no central owner or hub. Instead, it uses a “fractal topology” where each participating bank manages its own node. This makes the system resistant to external interference or being “shut off” by a central authority.
SWIFT is not a payment system; it is a messaging system. It sends the “instruction” to move money, but the actual settlement can take 1–5 business days as it hops between multiple intermediary banks.
BRICS Pay is designed to be an end-to-end settlement system. By using blockchain and distributed ledgers, it can settle transactions in real-time (seconds to minutes) because it records the value transfer directly on a shared ledger rather than waiting for bank-to-bank reconciliations.
SWIFT is heavily reliant on the U.S. Dollar as the primary reserve currency. Most international SWIFT transfers require a conversion into USD at some point in the chain, adding exchange fees and making the system sensitive to U.S. sanctions.
BRICS Pay is built specifically for Local Currency Settlement (LCS). The blockchain tech acts as a “bridge” that allows direct conversion between, for example, the Brazilian Real and the Indian Rupee without needing the U.S. Dollar as an intermediary.
Key here is decentralization and freedom from US hegemony.
I just assume when someone uses the word “blockchain” unironically they have no idea how things work
This is a salient point. Back in February 2025 when Donald decided to start imposing unilateral tariffs, other countries started crafting new trade agreements. Those take 1.5 to 2 years to take effect, so everything Donald is doing is, essentially, a time bomb that’s going to go off after 2026 whether it’s the BBB or our former allies rerouting trade around the US and through China. The vast majority of Americans don’t have any real knowledge of what these things mean or Donald would be even more unpopular than he is now.
In 2028 the new order in the world will probably unrecognizable compared to 2024, and it could be a very bad thing. We Americans have been lucky in that most of us have never experienced real war and can’t contextualize it, and that could change in the very near future.
Took me just a couple of hours to move all my investments out of the USA and to Europe/Rest of World. Sell all funds that had any investment in USA and move them into ex-USA funds/shares.
You’re not a country
If you’re a US citizen…hoo boy, I don’t envy your tax guy’s bp.