According to Cointelegraph: Macroeconomist Lyn Alden has expressed skepticism over a proposal for five countries to develop a common BRICS currency, suggesting it will struggle to launch and fail to dethrone the United States dollar. In an interview, Alden stated that it would be difficult for BRICS membersâBrazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africaâto create a gold-backed currency for widespread use. Russian President Vladimir Putin first proposed the idea of an international reserve currency at the BRICS summit in 2022 to rival the U.S. dollar as the global reserve standard. However, Alden believes the model is flawed and that a more likely outcome is that BRICS nations will reduce their reliance on the USD for cross-border payments by increasingly using their own currencies for trade, particularly the Chinese yuan. Alden's comments echo those of former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neil, who dismissed the common currency notion as "ridiculous" in an interview with the Australian Financial Review.
