Saudi Arabia Exits China-Led mBridge Digital Currency Platform
According to media reports, SAMA completed its planned proof-of-concept and pilot participation in May 2025 before quietly exiting the platform in late 2025 or 2026. The withdrawal was publicly confirmed in September 2026.
Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from mBridge, a China-led digital currency platform designed to facilitate cross-border payments using central bank digital currencies, the Financial Times reports, in a move that had not previously been made public.
The mBridge platform has attracted scrutiny in the United States over concerns that participating countries could use it to bypass dollar-dominated conventional payment systems such as SWIFT.
The platform uses blockchain technology to enable central banks to settle transactions directly using their own digital currencies, potentially reducing transaction costs and settlement times while limiting the role of the US dollar as an intermediary currency.
Saudi Arabia, a longstanding US ally in the Middle East, joined mBridge as an observer in 2023 through the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) before becoming a full participant during the platform’s minimum viable product phase in 2024.
According to media reports, SAMA completed its planned proof-of-concept and pilot participation in May 2025 before quietly exiting the platform in late 2025 or 2026. The withdrawal was publicly confirmed in September 2026.
The Bank for International Settlements, which was involved in the project, also left the platform in October 2024.
What is mBridge?
mBridge is a blockchain-based cross-border payments platform that allows participating central banks to settle transactions directly using digital currencies, without relying on conventional correspondent banking networks.
The project began in 2019 as a collaboration between the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand and later expanded to include China and the UAE. SAMA joined as a full participant in 2024.
According to Forbes, mBridge has processed about $55.5 billion across more than 4,000 cross-border transactions, with roughly 95% of the volume settled in digital yuan.
Its ability to facilitate direct settlement outside traditional dollar-based payment channels has made mBridge a significant financial and geopolitical development, particularly amid efforts by China and others to develop alternatives to the existing cross-border payments system.
