What happened
- Specific facts/numbers: Saudi Arabia joined mBridge as a full participant in June 2024 and, according to reports citing SAMA, completed its proof of concept on May 13, 2025 before ending its participation; BIS materials describe mBridge as a multi-CBDC platform for cross-border payments.
- Institutions involved: The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the People's Bank of China's Digital Currency Institute, the Bank of Thailand, the Central Bank of the UAE, and the Bank for International Settlements are the key institutions tied to mBridge.
- Regulatory/technical context: mBridge was developed as a distributed-ledger-based wholesale CBDC platform intended to address cross-border payment frictions such as cost, speed, and operational complexity; BIS says the project began in 2021 and SAMA joined in 2024.
- What to watch next: Watch for whether mBridge proceeds toward broader commercialization or governance changes without Saudi participation; no separate official recent statement on the withdrawal itself was identified.
Why it matters
Saudi Arabia’s exit suggests major central banks may still treat multi-CBDC cross-border rails as experimental, which could slow confidence in scaling alternative settlement infrastructure.
HKMA Relevance
Direct: The story centers on mBridge, a cross-border CBDC project involving the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and other central banks, making it directly relevant to HKMA’s payments and monetary innovation agenda.