Most recently, on June 2, 2023, the foreign ministers of the BRICS—as well as representatives from more than twelve countries—met in Cape Town, South Africa (interestingly at the "Cape of Good Hope"). Among other things, it was emphasized that they wanted to create an international trading currency. Undoubtedly, this is an undertaking that could have consequences of epic proportions.

After all, the BRICS countries represent about 3.2 billion people, approximately 40 percent of the world's population, with a combined economic output nearly the size of the economy of the United States of America. And there are also many other countries (such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Algeria, Argentina, and Kazakhstan) that might want to join the BRICS club.

The goal of the BRICS countries is to reduce their economic and political dependence on the US dollar, challenging "US dollar imperialism." 

To this end, they want to create a new international currency for commercial and financial transactions, replacing the US dollar as the means of transaction unit.

The reason is obvious.

The US administration has on many occasions used the greenback as a "geopolitical weapon" and engaged in a kind of "financial warfare": Washington sanctions enemy countries by denying them access to the US dollar capital market, but above all, it shuts them off from the international US dollar-centric payment system.

The freezing of Russia's currency reserves (the equivalent of almost six hundred billion US dollars is currently at stake) has set off alarm bells in many non-Western countries. It has reminded a number of them that holding US dollars comes with a political risk. This, in turn, has prompted many to restructure their international foreign reserves: holding fewer US dollars, switching to other (smaller) currencies, but above all, buying more gold.