China’s mBridge platform, a cutting-edge central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative, has now processed over $55 billion in cross-border transactions. This marks a significant shift in the global financial landscape, as digital currencies start to challenge the traditional dollar-based systems that have dominated international payments for decades. As the mBridge project gains momentum, it highlights China’s ambitions to lead the world in digital currency infrastructure.
mBridge’s Exponential Growth: A Game-Changer for Cross-Border Payments
Launched with the backing of several global central banks—including China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia—mBridge is rapidly transforming the landscape of international finance. To date, the platform has completed over 4,000 cross-border transactions, with a total value of approximately $55.5 billion. This dramatic increase reflects the growing global demand for faster, cheaper, and more secure digital payment solutions.
Central to the platform’s success is China’s digital yuan, or e-CNY, which accounts for a staggering 95% of the total settlement volume on mBridge. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) continues to scale up e-CNY usage domestically, with more than 3.4 billion transactions processed in 2024 alone, worth an estimated 16.7 trillion yuan ($2.4 trillion). Compared to 2023, this marks an increase of more than 800%.
What’s more, China is pushing forward with a major upgrade to the digital yuan’s functionality. The PBOC has introduced a framework that enables commercial banks to offer interest on e-CNY deposits. This move not only expands the role of e-CNY as a store of value but also positions it as a crucial player in cross-border transactions, beyond simple retail payments.
Geopolitical Tensions and BIS’s Strategic Shift from mBridge
Despite its rapid success, mBridge has faced some geopolitical challenges. In 2024, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which helped develop the platform since 2021, distanced itself from mBridge. The BIS characterized its departure as a “graduation,” but it occurred amid growing concerns over mBridge’s potential use for bypassing international sanctions.
BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens was quick to address these concerns, stressing that mBridge is not intended as a tool for BRICS countries to evade sanctions. He made it clear that BIS systems cannot be used by sanctioned countries, even though several mBridge participants are aligned with BRICS nations, such as China and Russia. This overlap has fueled discussions about the broader geopolitical implications of the platform.
In the wake of this exit, the BIS has shifted focus to Project Agorá, a new initiative aimed at exploring CBDCs among Western central banks. This strategic pivot underscores the increasing divide in the global approach to digital currencies, with China and its allies pushing forward with alternative systems that reduce reliance on traditional dollar-based infrastructure.
