Project mBridge (Multiple CBDC Bridge) is a cross-border payments platform that uses central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on a shared distributed ledger to settle transactions directly between commercial banks in different jurisdictions, bypassing correspondent banking networks and the US dollar leg that typically intermediates such flows.
The project was launched in 2021 as a successor to the earlier Inthanon-LionRock initiative between the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand. Its founding partners are the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, the Digital Currency Institute of the People's Bank of China, and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. The Saudi Central Bank joined as a full participant in 2024, and more than two dozen other central banks and international institutions have participated as observers.
In 2022 mBridge ran a pilot involving real-value transactions on behalf of commercial banks across the four founding jurisdictions. In June 2024 the BIS announced that mBridge had reached the minimum viable product (MVP) stage. In October 2024 BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens confirmed that the Bank for International Settlements would exit the project, leaving it to be operated by the participating central banks. The withdrawal was widely interpreted in policy circles as a response to concerns that mBridge could be used to circumvent dollar-based sanctions, though the BIS stated the exit reflected the project's graduation from the Innovation Hub's incubation role.
Technically, mBridge uses a custom distributed ledger ("mBridge Ledger") on which each participating central bank issues and controls its own CBDC. Commercial banks hold wallets directly and settle peer-to-peer with finality in seconds, in contrast to the multi-day, multi-hop settlement typical of SWIFT-based correspondent banking. Policy analysts frequently cite mBridge in discussions of de-dollarization, financial fragmentation, and the future of the international monetary system.
Example
In June 2024 the BIS announced that mBridge had reached minimum viable product stage, with the HKMA, Bank of Thailand, PBoC's Digital Currency Institute, Central Bank of the UAE, and the Saudi Central Bank as full participants.
Frequently asked questions
It is not designed as one, but because it settles cross-border payments in CBDCs without a dollar leg or SWIFT messaging, analysts note it could in principle reduce exposure to US-administered financial sanctions. The participating central banks have not framed the project in those terms.
Keep learning