CBDC Empire: How China, BRICS, and Central Banks Are Building a New Financial World Order
On the Record with Christian Briggs Analyzes the Global Shift Toward Decentralized Infrastructure and Optionality
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, June 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Originally published as part of an ongoing geopolitical review, a new episode of On the Record with Christian Briggs examines the massive restructuring of the global financial architecture driven by Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), the expansion of the BRICS bloc, and strategic resource realignments. The episode features an in-depth analysis by host Christian Briggs on how international monetary authorities are constructing "optionality" to minimize reliance on the long-standing, U.S. dollar-dominated system.The episode explores how the freezing of Russian foreign reserves in 2022 served as a structural catalyst, prompting sovereign nations to reassess their geopolitical exposure and build resilient, alternative financial channels. Briggs emphasizes that while the U.S. dollar remains the world's premier reserve currency, the gradual creation of backup systems is diluting its historical exclusivity.
The New Architecture of Global Settlement
The broadcast highlights Project mBridge as one of the most critical, yet underreported, developments in modern cross-border finance. Originally a collaborative effort between the PeoplE's Bank of China, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, and later joined by Saudi Arabia, mBridge represents a multi-CBDC wholesale platform enabling instantaneous, local-currency trade settlement bypasses.
Key infrastructural shifts detailed in the episode include:
The Network Effects of BRICS Expansion: The onboarding of major energy producers and commodity exporters into the BRICS alliance transitions the bloc from a political forum into a tangible economic infrastructure capable of scaling alternative payment systems.
The Global CBDC Explosion: Data shows that approximately 137 countries and currency unions, representing the overwhelming majority of global economic output, are actively researching, piloting, or deploying digital currencies.
The Race for Strategic Autonomy: The shift is not exclusive to emerging markets; the European Central Bank is aggressively advancing digital euro initiatives to protect European payment sovereignty and reduce dependence on foreign, dollar-based digital infrastructure.
Programmable Money and the Financial Control Architecture
Beyond cross-border efficiency, the episode addresses the profound political and civil implications of transitioning money into programmable software. Briggs delineates the dual nature of this technology: while it can optimize government disaster relief and reduce financial fraud, it simultaneously introduces capabilities for extensive transaction monitoring, purchase restrictions, and data aggregation.
The analysis notes that this trend is accelerating alongside the global deployment of advanced digital identity frameworks, such as India's Aadhaar and Europe's eIDAS 2.0, which serve as the verification layer for future financial systems. Briggs observes a unique dichotomy in the United States, where intense political skepticism toward a state-issued retail CBDC has conversely transformed the nation into a primary laboratory for privately issued stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
“Money is merely the scoreboard; the real battle is taking place in the physical foundations of the modern economy,” said Christian Briggs, financial commentator and host. “Currency dominance has always followed real power, manufacturing capacity, commodity supply chains, and industrial strength. China’s financial expansion through systems like mBridge and CIPS is the natural extension of its near-monopoly over critical node processing, including roughly ninety percent of global rare earth refining.”
The Physical Foundations of Financial Hegemony
The episode concludes by linking digital finance back to China’s long-term industrial policies and infrastructure investments across Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. By financing ports, railways, and telecommunications networks, and embedding local-currency settlement agreements into frameworks like the 2025 China-Latin America policy, alternative financial rails are emerging through organic commercial relationships rather than overt ideological warfare.
Briggs warns that the world of 2030 and beyond will likely be characterized by a fragmented financial ecosystem of interoperable technologies, where CBDCs, tokenized deposits, stablecoins, and traditional networks coexist. The program challenges Western leaders to recognize that twenty-first-century global influence will be dictated by who builds and operates this invisible, underlying infrastructure.
Watch the full episode:
https://youtu.be/Rn_00TzgC_Y
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1mNoBG6Qaz2U5fZ4BDnBtp?si=MPs_BMjjQ_m0BOYXAFj
Exg
On the Record with Christian Briggs
On the Record with Christian Briggs brings together thought leaders and economists to examine financial issues shaping our era. Each episode provides insights on economic trends and the importance of tangible assets for wealth preservation.
About Christian Briggs
Christian Briggs is a financial commentator, economist, and hard asset specialist who has advised members of Congress and the U.S. Senate on issues involving monetary policy, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), hard assets, and global financial systems. As CEO of Hard Asset Management and a veteran of financial markets since 1987, Briggs brings decades of experience analyzing the intersection of economics, geopolitics, emerging financial technologies,
and wealth preservation strategies.
Disclaimer: The content presented is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as professional financial, investment, legal, tax, or political advice. Any reliance you place on information from this episode is strictly at your own risk. Information presented in this episode reflects conditions and knowledge as of the date of recording.
Circumstances, facts, laws, regulations, and market conditions may change after the episode is produced. The host is not under any obligation to update or correct information after publication.
This episode may contain strong opinions, controversial viewpoints, or content that some viewers may find objectionable. The Show, its host, guests, and affiliates make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, or suitability of the information contained in this episode. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk.
Christian Briggs
BMC HAM
+1 844-426-4653
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
YouTube
X
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
