The 15th BRICS summit began on Tuesday in Johannesburg, South Africa and TikTokers are weighing in, claiming that a potential common BRICS currency is in development and could mean “the end of the U.S. dollar.”
BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and represents an economic grouping of some of the most economically powerful countries in the world. Combined, the countries represent a greater share of GDP than all the G7 countries.
One proposal in recent years for deeper integration of the bloc has been for a common currency for the bloc to trade in, which would blunt the global trade’s dependency on the U.S. dollar.
“Who was it that decided that the dollar was the currency after the disappearance of the gold standard?” Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked in a speech at a BRICS-affiliated bank in Shanghai in April.
But some TikTokers think that the currency is not only set to drop soon but could lead to hyperinflation.
“You guys are all so caught up with the wildfires that are happening in Canada” said @nooralfaalah in a video posted Tuesday “but that’s not even the biggest news that’s happening right now.”
BRICS, she says, is “a new digitalized currency that’s going to change the way that economics and trades work.”
She claimed that the five BRICS countries are currently in the process of implementing a new currency that will be backed by gold.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra recently said that the bloc was a long way off from forging a common currency though, according to Mint, an Indian business publication.
“The substantive part of trade and economic exchanges and discussions that have been a part of BRICS discussions, have so far, in a major way, focused on how to increase trade in respective national currencies which … is considerably different from a common currency concept,” Kwatra told the media.
That hasn’t stopped TikTokers from discussing the potential implications of the proposed currency.
“The conversion rate of this currency to US dollars is 1 to 55,” @nooralfaala claimed, without evidence.
What that means, she said, is that prices will skyrocket in the West.
“Inflation is gonna become the worst it’s ever been in centuries,” she claimed, ”as if it’s not already bad enough now.”
Spending $20 in a BRICS country now would be the equivalent of $1,100 US dollars, she said. “That’s basically an entire paycheck.”
Other TikTokers are excited by the news though.
“Africa’s future is looking bright,” reads the caption on a video by @taffy_nana1, a TikToker from South Africa. “$1=55 Brics currency.”
“it’s our turn to visit USA as tourists now,” another caption reads.
In another video the South African TikToker showed how much that would be in South African Rand: “1 BRICS currency = $55 = R1042.22,” the caption read. The minimum wage in South Africa is R25.
@taffy_nana1 Replying to @sakhilezwane669 #taffy🇿🇼🇿🇦 ♬ original sound – Taffy🥹Majoni🫶
The Daily Dot couldn’t find any source associated with BRICS talking about a $55/1 BRICS currency exchange rate.
Others though, tried to throw cold water on all the speculation.
“it’s not a currency that will be used by people…. don’t get it twisted… they will be trading with it…” commented @ryzdinchi.
