What is Project mBridge?

Project mBridge is a shared platform that lets several central banks' digital currencies move directly between countries. It was built to make cross-border payments faster and cheaper than the chain of correspondent banks they pass through today.

It began in 2021 at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub with four central banks: the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, the People's Bank of China's Digital Currency Institute and the Central Bank of the UAE. The Saudi Central Bank joined in 2024. About 30 institutions, among them the European Central Bank and the IMF, follow it as observers.

The platform runs on its own blockchain, the mBridge Ledger. In a 2022 pilot, commercial banks used it to make real-value payments across borders, settling in seconds rather than days. In June 2024 it reached the minimum viable product stage, the first version ready for real use.

In October 2024 the BIS handed the project over to the participating central banks and stepped back. For Pakistan and the Gulf, mBridge matters because the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where many Pakistanis work and send money home from, are among its members.