mBridge ( Multiple CBDC Bridge) is a multiple

central bank digital currency A central bank digital currency (CBDC; also called digital fiat currency or digital base money) is a digital currency issued by a central bank, rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the central bank, unless it is dividend-y ...

platform developed to support real-time, peer-to-peer, cross-border payments and foreign exchange transactions using CBDCs. Based on a

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

called the ''mBridge Ledger'', the platform is designed to ensure compliance with jurisdiction-specific policy and legal requirements, regulations, and governance needs. Currently five entities are jointly developing mBridge. They include the

Hong Kong Monetary Authority The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is the central bank, central banking institution of Hong Kong. It is a government authority founded on 1 April 1993 when the Office of the Exchange Fund and the Office of the Commissioner of Banking merge ...

, the

Bank of Thailand The Bank of Thailand (BOT; Abbreviation, abbr. ธปท.; , ) is the central bank of Thailand. History The Bank of Thailand (BOT) was first set up as the Thai National Banking Bureau. The Bank of Thailand Act was promulgated on 28 April 1942 ...

, the

Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates () (Central Bank of the UAE or CBUAE) is the state institution responsible for managing the currency, monetary policy, banking and insurance regulation in the United Arab Emirates. History The Qatar ...

, the Digital Currency Research Institute of the

People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC and unofficially PBOC) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for carrying out monetary policy as determined by the ''PRC People's Bank Law'' and the ''PRC Commercia ...

, and the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre. The

Saudi Central Bank The Saudi Central Bank (), previously known as the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA; ), established in 1952, is the central bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Despite the name change in 2020, the Saudi Central Bank has continued to use t ...

joined in June 2024.

Development

A pilot involving real corporate transactions was conducted on the platform among participating central banks, selected commercial banks, and their customers in four jurisdictions. The project focused on developing hypothetical use cases in the Greater Bay Area as a way to demonstrate the technology and operational improvements that mBridge can offer. In September 2021, the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...

, in collaboration with

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

, published a report regarding the second phase of the mBridge project, aiming to establish a system involving multiple CBDCs to enable faster, more cost-effective, and efficient methods for conducting cross-border transfers and foreign exchange operations. The HKMA expressed the intent to collaboratively launch a minimum viable product in 2024, with the effort built on the

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

's focus on exploring new technologies to provide more cost-effective and secure real-time cross-border payments and settlements. In October 2024, BIS was reported to be considering shutting down the pilot mBridge platform, as the

16th BRICS summit The 2024 BRICS summit was the BRICS#Summits, sixteenth annual BRICS summit, held in Kazan, Russia. It was the first BRICS summit to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates as members, following their accession to the organizat ...

had discussed the creation of a BRICS Bridge, based on the mBridge technology. Such a system would allow

BRICS BRICS is an intergovernmental organization comprising ten countriesBrazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The idea of a BRICS-like group can be traced back to Russian foreign ...

countries to become partly independent of the US-supervised financial system and restrictions to

SWIFT Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

, which is subject to US pressure, and thus partly evade the US financial sanctions system.

Related projects

Alongside mBridge, there are also other ongoing projects aiming to improve cross-border transactions with CBDC's.

Project Aurum

A full-stack (front-end and back-end) CBDC system comprising a wholesale interbank system and a retail e-wallet system, bringing to life intermediated CBDC and stablecoins backed by CBDC in the interbank system. Collaborators: BIS,

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI) is a research institute that was founded by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in 2000 with the mission of enhancing Hong Kong's competit ...

Dunbar

On 22 March 2022, the BIS Innovation Hub, the

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. Th ...

Bank Negara Malaysia The Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM; ; Jawi: ) is the Malaysian central bank. Established on 26 January 1959 as the Central Bank of Malaya (''Bank Negara Tanah Melayu''), its main purpose is to issue currency, act as the banker and advisor to the ...

, the

Monetary Authority of Singapore The Monetary Authority of Singapore or (MAS), is the central bank and financial regulatory authority of Singapore. It administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities and the financial sector in general, as ...

, and the

South African Reserve Bank The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is the central bank of South Africa. It was established in 1921 after Parliament passed an act, the "Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920", as a direct result of the abnormal monetary and financial condi ...

announced the completion of prototypes for a shared Dunbar platform, enabling international settlements using multiple CBDCs.

Cedar x Ubin+

The Cedar x Ubin+ project, the flagship venture of the New York Innovation Center in collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, is a multi-phase technical research initiative that evaluates the potential applications of wholesale CBDCs, built with distributed ledger technology to enhance the efficiency and transparency of cross-border payments.

Mariana

In October 2023, the Bank for International Settlements, in partnership with the central banks of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, confirmed the successful completion of the Mariana project, which explored cross-border trading and settlement of wholesale CBDCs among financial institutions while integrating decentralized finance technology on a public blockchain.

Icebreaker

In March 2023, the

, in collaboration with the central banks of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, completed the Icebreaker project, which examined the technical feasibility of using retail CBDCs in international payments.

Jura

In November 2021, the consortium responsible for Jura project, comprising the Bank for International Settlements,

Banque de France The Bank of France ( ) is the national central bank for France within the Eurosystem. It was the French central bank between 1800 and 1998, issuing the French franc. It does not translate its name to English, and thus calls itself ''Banque de ...

Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; ; ; ; ) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy and the sole issuer of Swiss franc banknotes. The primary goal of its mandate is to ensure price stability, while taking econ ...

, and various private firms, explored the direct transfer of

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

and

Swiss franc The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) iss ...

wholesale CBDCs between French and Swiss commercial banks on a single

distributed ledger A distributed ledger (also called a shared ledger or distributed ledger technology or DLT) is a system whereby replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data is geographically spread (distributed) across many sites, countries, or institutions. I ...

platform. The group officially confirmed the experiment's success in a report released on December 8, 2021.

References

External links

BIS update 11 November 2024 .htmBIS connecting economies project mBridge October 2022BIS mBridge brochure October 2023BIS Q4 2021 mBridge Trial Platform
{{Central bank digital currency Central bank digital currencies Monetary reform

Development

Related projects

Project Aurum

Dunbar

Cedar x Ubin+

Mariana

Icebreaker

Jura

See also

References

External links