100 sats \ 3 replies \ @timechain 13 Jul 2023 \ parent \ on: No MSM Coverage Of Gold Backed BRICS Currency bitcoin
Yeah, I don't think the institution currently exists that would create such a currency yet.
There is this thing that BRICS has already called the NDB (New Development Bank) and it's described as an alternative to the IMF... (Not sure if you've heard any podcasts with Alex Gladstein how the IMF loansharks poor countries.)
China already has their IMF alternative called the Belt and Road Initiative. But since they don't have the privilege as the global reserve asset, they have less room too keep countries in debt forever like we can (though they can do things like confiscate ports and stuff.)
Perhaps with NBD the BRICS nations can put their money together and keep countries in a perpetual state of debt slavery as effectively as the West can. (Gladstein feels outsourcing inflation to the global south is an integral part of why life in the West is prosperous as it is.)
There are also talks of a unified SWIFT alternative, though India, Russia and Brazil already have their own with China having one in the works.
But if we were to ask the question "what would it look like if they were to launch a currency together?" Well, I guess BRICS would have a series of progressively larger and more intertwined major financial projects together. So far, that is what is happening, but it is still too early to tell.
Thanks for the information. I'm a big fan of Gladstein (Check Your Financial Privilege and many podcasts). Are you saying BRICS nations or BRICS Bank has talked about the NBD? Either way, there seems to be an overlap of mandate, unless BRICS bank is intended to serve as a central bank? Have you found any good sources in this?
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Here's a reason you might not hear NDB talked about. Its old news. Believe it or not. BRICS and NDB were formed in 2014-15. Weird right? NDB was called the BRICS Development Bank. I have a link a the bottom to a Un-paywalled Washington post article titled "What the New Bank of BRICS is All About" 7/17/2014.
One of those things. I wasn't really down the rabbit hole yet, so it wouldn't have been on my radar. I was partying then.
I don't think there is an overlap of mandate. NDB is largely investments in countries outside of BRICS nations (to (ideally) benefit BRICS nations) The common currency would be to help facilitate trade for inter-BRICS country transactions. (Otherwise they would have to use one of eachother's currencies and people have expressed that nobody trusts eachother's currency enough, as they keep things less open than the US.)
Also, btw, I am assuming the common currency (whenever it happens, IF it happens) is at the central bank level. I am assuming the countries don't want to give up the sweet, sweet, mistress of seigniorage. I haven't heard anything otherwise.
Though, i guess there are ways to do it where economically stronger nations try to keep that, (the Euro tried to do this) though, i feel the Euro was a cautionary tale, with the average Netherlands citizen contributing €284 per capita and the average Lithuanian taking €578 per capita. (As of 2018) (Or Luxembourg at €2,710 per capita due to all the institutions within its borders.) https://www.visualcapitalist.com/which-countries-are-the-biggest-boost-or-drag-on-the-eu-budget/
Anyway, what I'm try to say is that it's really hard to have multiple countries with multiple standards of wealth come in and not get upset about one country 'carrying the load' and one country 'weighing them down' . Better keep it as a Central Bank level thing. Not a Citizen-level money.
Here's a description of what they (NDB) are in their own words: "The New Development Bank (NDB) is a multilateral development bank established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) with the purpose of mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs)."
(The currency, I did hear mentioned a month ago. Then more recently that it wasn't happening any time soon.)
My sources for NBD was Wikipedia BRICS article (lol.) And their official site.
Official Site: https://www.ndb.int
BRICS Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRICS
Here's an article from the Washington Post I Un-paywalled about it in 2014: http://web.archive.org/web/20230509021522/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/07/17/what-the-new-bank-of-brics-is-all-about/
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I heard something interesting, so I figured I'd come back here to tell you.
This month from the 22nd to the 24th I think there's a summit in S. Africa for BRICS nations (and possibly aspiring new nations). Anyway, they went out of their way to say they will not be discussing any new currency.
I don't know, they seem almost too desperate to tell us there's no currency, lol. Almost makes me think there is one now.
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