Russia proposes to create a decentralized depository of the BRICS countries

Russia has presented the concept of a decentralized depository for the BRICS countries based on blockchain technology. This idea is planned to be discussed first in the Ministry of Finance and VEB before presenting it on the world stage. 

The head of the Board of Directors of Mosbirzhi Sergey Shvetsov said that this concept is to create a centralized depository for BRICS based on blockchain technology. Unlike traditional depositories, the proposed one will function without a legal entity, representing a blockchain, the nodes of which will be the depositories of the BRICS countries.

The idea of creating such a depository was first announced by Shvetsov in June 2023. This depository is considered as an alternative to international accounting systems similar to SWIFT. 

The surge in interest in creating its own depository was caused by the events of 2022, when, after the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the «bridge» between NSD and European depositories – Euroclear and Clearstream – was destroyed due to sanctions. In particular, almost all operations with Russian and international infrastructure due to sanctions were first carried out manually, and then were completely frozen.

The BRICS members today are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Candidates for joining the bloc are Iran, Argentina, Algeria and Egypt. Within the framework of BRICS, a New Development Bank with headquarters in Shanghai is functioning.