RIYADH—Saudi Arabia has officially withdrawn from the
mBridge project, a cross-border payments platform based on distributed ledger
technology and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), initially developed
with the participation of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the United Arab
Emirates.
The Saudi withdrawal took place in May 2025 and, according
to recently published information, was planned from the moment the country
joined the project as a full participant in 2024. The decision does not mean
the end of mBridge, which continues to be managed by its participants.
mBridge was designed to facilitate international payments
and settlements directly between financial institutions using central bank
digital currencies. Its technology allows for faster and potentially lower-cost
transactions than some traditional cross-border payment mechanisms.
The project reached the minimum viable product (MVP) stage
in 2024. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which participated in
its development from the early stages, later announced that it would withdraw
from the project and that it would be managed by the participating central
banks.
One of mBridge's key features is its use of distributed
ledger technology to enable cross-jurisdictional digital currency transactions.
In a 2022 trial, 20 banks from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the United Arab
Emirates conducted 164 payment and foreign exchange transactions worth over $22
million.