China Pushes E-Yuan Incentives

BRICS Gold Rush Falls Short: China Pushes E-Yuan to Accelerate De-Dollarization

The BRICS countries have increased their combined gold holdings to more than 6,000 tonnes (China at 2,298 tonnes and Russia at 2,336 tonnes), but insiders are unhappy because they believe the move won't be enough to completely challenge the dominance of the US dollar in the face of sluggish development on a single alternative currency.

BRICS Gold Strategy

In order to ease trade outside of dollar systems, BRICS, which owns about half of the world's gold production, has introduced a pilot "Unit" backed 60% by member currencies and 40% by actual gold.

Sources express dissatisfaction with the speed of these efforts because gold accumulation by itself is unable to produce a workable reserve asset or payment network that can compete with SWIFT, leading to demands for quicker de-dollarization techniques.

China's E Yuan Initiative Steps In

In response, China is launching interest payments on digital yuan (e-CNY) wallets beginning in January 2026. This is a first for CBDCs that offer demand deposit rates to increase usage and present e-CNY as a savings-like substitute for dollar deposits.

Through platforms like mBridge, this incentive seeks to increase the attractiveness of e-yuan in cross-border trade, attract deposits from commercial banks, and hasten the internationalization of yuan among BRICS and Global South partners.

Broder De-Dollarization Momentum

In order to lessen its dependency on SWIFT, China has inked large currency swaps, enlarged CIPS to handle trillions of yuan transactions, and encouraged local currency settlements in 50% of intra-BRICS commerce.

China's e-yuan push, which combines interest rewards with blockchain interoperability, is a more practical stimulus for de-dollarization and has the potential to change global banking more quickly than gold stockpiling alone, even though the BRICS gold moves indicate purpose.