As India prepares to host the BRICS summit later this year, the focus will be on a payment system linking national digital currencies. At the summit, a crucial agenda item signals a potential shift: developing a BRICS payment system built on interoperable central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). A primary tool is the use of financial sanctions and access to the dollar-based global payment system (SWIFT) as a deterrent. By developing a parallel payment rail, the BRICS payment system could provide an alternative payment channel in case of a global crisis. Laying the railsThe development of BRICS payment rails is likely to evolve pragmatically, leveraging existing bilateral systems before expanding into a multilateral network.