{"id":13560,"date":"2026-09-22T09:23:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13560"},"modified":"2026-09-22T09:23:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:23:59","slug":"saudi-arabia-exits-china-backed-mbridge-digital-currency-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13560","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia Exits China-Backed mBridge Digital Currency Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

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  • The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) confirmed to the Financial Times it is \u201cno longer a participating member\u201d of mBridge after completing its proof of concept on 13 May, 2025.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • SAMA had joined the shared-ledger platform as a full participant in June 2024 alongside the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the UAE.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • mBridge volumes passed US$55.5 billion (AU$77.7 billion) by January, per Atlantic Council data, with China\u2019s e-CNY accounting for about 95% of settlement volume, drawing US warnings over sanctions evasion.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Saudi Arabia\u2019s central bank has withdrawn from mBridge, the China-backed platform for settling cross-border payments in central bank digital currencies, the Financial Times reported Sunday, with the bank confirming the exit in a statement to the newspaper.<\/p>\n

    \u201cAs planned, SAMA successfully completed its mBridge [proof of concept] on 13 May 2025. Following the completion of the PoC, SAMA is no longer a participating member of mBridge\u201d, the Saudi Central Bank stated. SAMA made no public announcement at the time it left, and the withdrawal surfaced only with the newspaper\u2019s report 16 months later.<\/p>\n

    mBridge runs on a shared distributed ledger that lets participating central banks issue and transact in their own digital currencies for cross-border payments and foreign exchange, settling directly between jurisdictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub began building the platform in 2021 with the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

    Read more: US Treasury Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange Over Alleged IRGC Bitcoin Transfers<\/strong><\/p>\n

    From MVP Milestone to Quiet Exit<\/h2>\n

    SAMA, an observer on the project since 2023, according to the newspaper, came aboard in June 2024, when the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced mBridge had reached its minimum-viable-product stage and welcomed the Saudi bank as \u201cthe next full participant of the mBridge MVP platform\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    The four founding central banking institutions each deployed validating nodes in their own jurisdictions at that stage, per the HKMA. The BIS handed mBridge to its member central banks in October 2024, saying the project had matured past the MVP threshold and that its departure was not politically motivated.<\/p>\n

    A $55 Billion Platform Under US Scrutiny<\/h2>\n

    Transactions on mBridge had passed US$55.5 billion (AU$77.7 billion) across more than 4,000 cross-border payments by January, a roughly 2,500-fold increase on its 2022 pilots, according to Atlantic Council data, with China\u2019s e-CNY accounting for about 95% of settlement volume.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    A 2024 report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned the platform could give countries a settlement channel outside US sanctions\u2019 reach, and Anthony Scaramucci and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong have warned that banning yield on US stablecoins hands China\u2019s interest-paying digital yuan a strategic edge.<\/p>\n

    A person familiar with the matter told the FT it would be \u201cinaccurate to draw any wider inference\u201d from the Saudi withdrawal, given the limited scope of Riyadh\u2019s participation. A second person told the newspaper Saudi Arabia continues to engage with the project discreetly.<\/p>\n

    Read more: Fed Hikes Rates Again, Putting Inflation Front and Center<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

    Banks,China,Digital Asset#Saudi #Arabia #Exits #ChinaBacked #mBridge #Digital #Currency #Project1790069039<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) confirmed to the Financial Times it is \u201cno longer a participating member\u201d of mBridge after completing its proof of concept on 13 May, 2025. SAMA had joined the shared-ledger platform as a full participant in June 2024 alongside the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the UAE. mBridge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[7064,7065,1180,214,186,1473,3010,1838],"class_list":["post-13560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bitcoin","tag-arabia","tag-chinabacked","tag-currency","tag-digital","tag-exits","tag-mbridge","tag-project","tag-saudi"],"yoast_head":"\nSaudi Arabia Exits China-Backed mBridge Digital Currency Project - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13560\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudi Arabia Exits China-Backed mBridge Digital Currency Project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) confirmed to the Financial Times it is \u201cno longer a participating member\u201d of mBridge after completing its proof of concept on 13 May, 2025. 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