Saudi Arabia Exits China-Led mBridge Digital Currency Project
Summary
- The Saudi Central Bank, or SAMA, said it ended its participation in mBridge after completing the project's proof of concept, in line with its original plan.
- mBridge is a project aimed at speeding up cross-border payments and lowering costs by allowing central banks to issue and transact in their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on a shared ledger.
- The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said mBridge could provide an alternative cross-border payments system for countries seeking to avoid U.S. sanctions.
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Saudi Arabia has exited mBridge, a China-led cross-border payments project built around central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.
Cointelegraph reported on September 21, citing the Financial Times, that the Saudi Central Bank, known as SAMA, ended its participation in the project after completing the mBridge proof of concept.
Saudi Arabia joined mBridge as a full participant in June 2024 and completed the proof of concept on May 13, 2025. SAMA said its exit was part of a process planned from the outset.
mBridge was launched in 2021 by the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub and the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates to speed up cross-border payments and lower costs.
Instead of using a single stablecoin, the project allows participating central banks to issue and transact in their own digital currencies on a shared ledger. It was designed to directly handle cross-border payments and foreign-exchange transactions.
The BIS transferred operation of the project to the participating central banks in October 2024 after mBridge reached the minimum viable product stage. At the time, BIS General Manager Agustin Carstens said the institution's exit was not politically motivated.
mBridge has nonetheless drawn concern in the U.S. over the possibility that it could be used to evade sanctions. In a 2024 report, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said mBridge could eventually offer an alternative cross-border payments system to countries seeking to avoid U.S. sanctions.
Separately, the People's Bank of China is monitoring the role stablecoins and CBDCs could play in cross-border payments. Wang Xin, director of the PBOC Research Bureau, said in June that oversight of cross-border uses of stablecoins and CBDCs, along with international coordination, needs to be strengthened.
