Saudi Arabia has officially withdrawn from mBridge, a high-profile, China-backed cross-border digital currency project designed to facilitate direct transactions between central banks, according to a recent report by the Financial Times.
The Saudi Central Bank, known as SAMA, initially joined the ambitious initiative as a full participant in June 2024. However, according to the Financial Times, SAMA ended its participation after completing a proof of concept on May 13, 2025. Citing an official statement from the central bank, reports indicated that SAMA had always planned to conclude its involvement at this specific juncture following the evaluation phase.
MBridge was originally established in 2021 through a collaborative effort between the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub and the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates. The overarching objective of the project has been to make international trade and cross-border payments significantly faster, cheaper, and more efficient by bypassing traditional correspondent banking networks.
Rather than relying on a single dominant stablecoin or traditional fiat intermediaries, the mBridge platform allows participating central banks to issue and transact directly in their own respective central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on a shared distributed ledger. This infrastructure supports seamless cross-border payments as well as foreign exchange transactions among participating sovereign entities.
The development of the platform continued under the direct oversight of the BIS until October 2024. At that time, the organization formally handed over the operational control of mBridge to the participating central banks after the project reached its minimum viable product stage. Following the handoff, then-BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens noted publicly that the departure of the international institution was not politically motivated, emphasizing that the project had matured to a point where sovereign central banks could manage it independently.
Despite the technical ambitions of the project, mBridge has consistently drawn intense scrutiny from Western policymakers, particularly in the United States. A notable 2024 report published by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned that mBridge could eventually provide an alternative cross-border settlement infrastructure for countries seeking to evade US-led economic sanctions and reduce reliance on the traditional dollar-dominated financial architecture.
Cointelegraph reached out to the Saudi Central Bank for additional comment regarding the decision to withdraw from the initiative, but did not receive a response prior to the time of publication.
China Weighs Digital Currencies’ Role in Cross-Border Payments
As the mBridge ecosystem navigates shifts in its participant lineup, China’s central bank has increasingly focused on the evolving role that stablecoins and digital currencies could play in global cross-border payments as their adoption expands worldwide.
In June, Wang Xin, the director general of the People’s Bank of China Research Bureau, publicly called for closer, more rigorous monitoring of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies within the realm of cross-border settlements. He also emphasized the necessity for greater international regulatory coordination to address the macroeconomic and monetary policy implications of these emerging financial technologies.
Wang’s remarks followed closely on the heels of actions taken by Chinese financial authorities earlier in the year, when Beijing restricted the unauthorized issuance of renminbi-pegged stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, including those attempted by foreign entities operating within or adjacent to Chinese markets. These domestic controls highlight a broader tension between fostering technological innovation in digital payments and maintaining strict capital controls and monetary sovereignty.
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