Renowned author and investor Robert Kiyosaki has intensified his warnings about the future of the US dollar, pointing to the accelerating move by BRICS nations away from dollar-based trade as a critical threat to its global reserve status.
Historical Precedents of Dollar Defence
In a detailed social media post on December 30, Kiyosaki revisited key geopolitical events to illustrate how the dollar's supremacy, particularly in the oil market, has been historically enforced. He highlighted the case of Iraq, which in 2000 decided to sell its oil in euros instead of US dollars. The United States invaded Iraq three years later, and although no weapons of mass destruction were found, Iraqi oil sales quietly reverted to dollars.
The pattern repeated with Libya in 2009, Kiyosaki noted. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi proposed a gold-backed African currency, the gold dinar, to enable African nations to trade oil without dollars. In 2011, NATO intervened in Libya, Gaddafi was killed, the gold dinar plan vanished, and Libyan oil returned to being priced in US dollars.
The BRICS Challenge and the Gold Factor
Kiyosaki argues that this historical pattern of defending the "petrodollar" is now facing an unprecedented challenge. The expanded BRICS bloc—now including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia—is actively building dollar-independent infrastructure. He cited that BRICS nations now conduct about 50% of their internal trade in local currencies, with Russia reporting 90% of its trade with China uses rubles and yuan.
This de-dollarisation trend is backed by a massive accumulation of gold. According to analyst Sugandha Sachdeva of SS WealthStreet, BRICS nations collectively control nearly 50% of global gold production and hold over 6,000 tonnes in official reserves. Russia and China each possess more than 2,000 tonnes, while India's reserves exceed 800 tonnes. Central bank gold buying has surged, with Goldman Sachs forecasting an average of 70 tonnes per month through 2026, four times the pre-2022 average.
Consequences of a Failing Reserve Currency
Kiyosaki warns that the US dollar is on the brink of losing its dominant reserve currency status, a shift that would have severe repercussions. He draws parallels to the decline of the British pound, which led to a long-term erosion of real wealth for domestic savers.
The core risk, he explains, is a potential flood of overseas dollars back into the US economy. This would sharply expand the domestic money supply, triggering inflation and eroding the purchasing power of those holding dollar savings. "Most people will keep their savings in dollars and watch their wealth evaporate," Kiyosaki cautioned. The US dollar index already fell by 9.4% in 2025, its largest annual drop in eight years.
Kiyosaki concludes that military power cannot sustain a financial system being abandoned by dozens of major economies simultaneously. His stark message to investors remains: "Bye-bye US dollar!... Don’t be a loser. My forecast is that savers of the US dollar will be the biggest losers."
