The 18th BRICS summit adopted the New Delhi Declaration, backing a payment architecture designed to bypass the Western financial system, according to ChainCatcher. The declaration says BRICS members will expand trade and investment settled in their local currencies, connect national payment systems, and study cross-border interoperability. The brief also mentions BRICS Pay as a decentralized payment framework. It would combine India’s Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, with Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages, or SPFS, into a shared layer used to clear payments among member states. The report focuses on the declaration’s payment and settlement direction and does not provide additional implementation details.

The European Union approved its 21st sanctions package against Russia on July 23, widening its crackdown from domestic Russian institutions to a broader network of banks, crypto service providers, payment channels, energy operators and defense-linked suppliers. According to Reuters, the latest round adds 218 individuals and entities, including 48 people and 170 organizations, making it one of the bloc’s largest single additions in the past four years. Financial measures sit at the center of the package. The EU placed 94 banks and major financial institutions under asset-freeze restrictions, while 33 Russian credit and financial institutions were hit with a transaction ban. Four non-Russian banks were also added to trading restrictions, including one Kyrgyz bank allegedly tied to Russia’s SPFS financial messaging system. Crypto was targeted more directly in this package. The EU imposed transaction bans on 14 crypto-asset service platforms across several jurisdictions and introduced a broader mechanism that could allow restrictions on crypto service providers across an entire third country if that jurisdiction is seen as enabling sanctions evasion. The bloc also named four designated targets linked to the A7 cross-border payment network. The package also expands action against Russia’s shadow fleet, oil sector and military supply chain.

The EU’s 20th sanctions package bans dealings with Russian and Belarusian crypto service providers and DeFi platforms, while adding the digital ruble, RUBx, and TengriCoin to its blacklist.

The Trump administration said on July 18 that it will impose a 25% Section 301 tariff on most imports from Brazil starting July 22, with Brazil’s central bank-run instant payment system Pix emerging as a central point of dispute. According to CoinDesk, Washington argues that Pix gives US card networks such as Visa and Mastercard an unfair disadvantage because the system charges individuals no fees and caps what merchants can be charged. Pix has already surpassed credit cards in transaction count in Brazil. The dispute comes with a second layer. Data from Brazil’s tax authority shows that US dollar-denominated stablecoins account for about 90% of the country’s crypto trading volume, with most of that activity tied to payments and settlement. At the same time, Brazil’s central bank is moving to tighten that channel. Resolution 561, released in May, is set to take effect on Oct. 1 and will bar payment institutions from using stablecoins or other crypto assets to settle cross-border payments. The report places the clash in a wider BRICS context, where Washington has been watching efforts to reduce reliance on dollar-based payment infrastructure, including Brazil’s Pix, China’s CIPS and Russia’s SPFS.

Moscow Exchange launched the real-time institutional XRP index (MOEXXRP) on May 13, 2026, tracking XRP/USDT with 15-second updates. This expands Russia's regulated crypto index suite, offering qualified investors a compliant benchmark and paving the way for futures, while boosting XRP's legitimacy in emerging markets.