UAE and India use XRP not US dollar in historic oil trade

India and the UAE have just made history by completing a crude oil deal that skipped the US dollar entirely, opting for XRP instead. 

India paid for oil from the UAE using their local currencies, but the transaction was run through the XRP Ledger System. This system reportedly even rewards users with CryptoTradingFund (CTF) tokens as cashback.

The BRICS nations, which now include the UAE after its membership expansion in 2024, are leading the charge to de-dollarization. The motivation is clear: they want economic independence. 

The US dollar has long been the world’s go-to currency, but recent geopolitical tensions and sanctions have made so many countries stressed.

Ripple has partnered with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to link up the next wave of developers with the DIFC Innovation Hub, the biggest innovation community in the region, housing over 1,000 tech startups, digital labs, venture capital firms, regulators, and educational groups.

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, said: 

“The UAE is one of the most advanced jurisdictions globally when it comes to offering regulatory clarity for licensed firms to offer virtual asset services.”

Ripple is putting its money where its mouth is, too. The company has committed one billion XRP to fund the development of new use cases on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). 

How far with the de-dollarization?

For years, the US dollar has been the king of global finance, but that crown is starting to slip. The US has been using its financial system as a weapon, imposing sanctions on countries like Russia and Iran. 

This has made other nations, especially those in BRICS, think twice about putting all their eggs in the dollar basket. Russian President Vladimir Putin even called dethroning the dollar “irreversible” and said it’s “gaining pace.”

There’s also a growing push within BRICS to trade using local currencies instead of the dollar. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been open about this, questioning why countries need to use the dollar at all. 

He’s not alone—many leaders within BRICS share this sentiment. Then there’s the talk of creating a new BRICS currency. The idea is to have a currency that all BRICS nations can use for trade, bypassing the dollar entirely. 

But while the idea sounds great in theory, there are a lot of blocks to clear before it becomes a reality. The economic conditions of BRICS nations vary widely, and creating a unified monetary system is no small feat.