# mBridge > Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/mbridge > research date 2026-06-04 · extracted at 2026-10-06 > Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards Specifications: - [Project mBridge — BIS Innovation Hub](https://www.bis.org/about/bisih/topics/cbdc/mcbdc_bridge.htm) - [Project mBridge reaches minimum viable product stage (BIS press release)](https://www.bis.org/press/p240605.htm) ## Overview **Project mBridge** (the Multi-CBDC Bridge) is a multi-central-bank-digital-currency settlement platform for **wholesale, cross-border payments and foreign-exchange settlement**, built on distributed ledger technology (DLT). It lets participating central banks and their commercial banks reach one another directly on a single shared platform — the **mBridge Ledger** — for real-time, peer-to-peer cross-border payments with final settlement [1][1] [2][2]. mBridge is **primarily a wholesale system**: its core function is interbank/cross-border value transfer in central-bank money, not retail consumer payments. A retail/QR-style consumer leg is conceivable as an add-on (the platform is positioned as a testbed for FX, liquidity and add-on solutions), but the live, settled activity to date is wholesale cross-border settlement, dominated by China's e-CNY [2][2] [6][6]. ## History mBridge grew out of earlier bilateral CBDC experimentation and was formalised in **2021** as a collaboration between the **BIS Innovation Hub** (Hong Kong Centre), the **Bank of Thailand**, the **Central Bank of the UAE**, the **Digital Currency Institute of the People's Bank of China**, and the **Hong Kong Monetary Authority** [1][1]. A real-value transaction pilot was conducted in **2022** [1][1]. On **5 June 2024**, the project announced it had reached **minimum viable product (MVP) stage**, and at the same time the **Saudi Central Bank** joined as a full participant, expanding the core group to five central banks; the project also reported more than 26 observing members [2][2]. By the BIS's own later count the observer group had grown to over 30 [1][1]. On **31 October 2024**, BIS General Manager **Agustín Carstens** announced the BIS was **ending its involvement** and handing the project to the partner central banks. Carstens framed the exit as a graduation rather than a failure or a political decision, saying the BIS had been involved for four years "and it is at a level where the partners can carry it on by themselves." He explicitly pushed back on the platform being characterised as a sanctions-evasion or BRICS vehicle, stating "mBridge is not the BRICS bridge" and that the BIS maintains a strict policy of non-collaboration with sanctioned entities [7][7] [8][8]. The five founding/participant central banks (China, Hong Kong, Thailand, UAE, Saudi Arabia) continue to operate the project after the BIS handover [7][7]. ## Technical specification - **Ledger.** The platform is built on a purpose-made blockchain, the **mBridge Ledger**, supporting real-time, peer-to-peer cross-border payments and FX transactions with final settlement [1][1] [2][2]. - **EVM compatibility.** The MVP is **compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine**, letting it serve as a testbed for additional technologies and add-on solutions (e.g. FX, liquidity management, AML) [1][1] [2][2]. - **Validating nodes.** Each of the four original founding central banks deployed a **validating node** [1][1]. - **Single integrated platform.** mBridge achieves interoperability with domestic traditional clearing systems while letting participants from multiple jurisdictions reach one another directly on one shared technical platform — collapsing the correspondent-banking chain [5][5]. - **Settlement model.** Designed to be "immediate, cheap and universally accessible," with final settlement on-ledger; the MVP is enabled to undertake real-value transactions subject to each jurisdiction's preparedness [1][1] [2][2]. - **Governance / rulebook.** A bespoke governance and legal framework — including a rulebook tailored to the platform's decentralised nature — was created by a steering committee, supported by five subcommittees (business, legal, policy, risk & compliance, and technology) [1][1] [2][2] [5][5]. ## Use cases - **Wholesale cross-border payments** between commercial banks across participating jurisdictions, in central-bank money, without traversing the correspondent-banking network [2][2] [5][5]. - **Cross-border FX settlement** between the participating CBDCs [1][1]. - **Trade settlement** corridors among the participant economies (notably China, Hong Kong, Thailand, UAE, Saudi Arabia) [6][6] [7][7]. - **Testbed** for add-on technology — FX, liquidity, and AML solutions — given EVM compatibility [1][1] [2][2]. ## Implementations **Participant central banks (post-BIS handover):** - People's Bank of China (Digital Currency Institute) — e-CNY - Hong Kong Monetary Authority - Bank of Thailand - Central Bank of the UAE - Saudi Central Bank (joined June 2024) [1][1] [2][2] [7][7] **Former lead:** BIS Innovation Hub (exited October 2024) [7][7]. **Observers:** 30+ observing organisations spanning central banks and multilateral institutions from across nearly every continent — including (among others) central banks of Australia, Brazil, Korea and India, the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve, and the IMF, World Bank and AIIB [1][1] [5][5]. ## Comparison - **vs [Nexus (Project Nexus)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/nexus)** — Nexus (also incubated by the BIS Innovation Hub) interconnects *existing domestic instant-payment systems* (e.g. UPI-style fast rails) for retail cross-border payments via a hub-and-spoke standard. mBridge instead creates a *new shared DLT settlement layer in CBDC* for wholesale value transfer; Nexus is messaging/routing across existing rails, mBridge is settlement on a common ledger. - **vs [Buna](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/buna)** — Buna (Arab Monetary Fund) is a multi-currency RTGS-style cross-border payment and settlement platform built on conventional centralised infrastructure; mBridge pursues the same cross-border-settlement goal but using a shared multi-CBDC DLT. - **vs SWIFT** — SWIFT is a *messaging* network layered over correspondent banking, where settlement still hops through intermediary banks. mBridge collapses messaging and settlement into a single shared ledger with on-platform final settlement, removing intermediaries — which is the source of both its efficiency claims and the geopolitical attention it has drawn as a potential alternative to the dollar-centric correspondent system [5][5] [7][7]. ## Fun facts - Despite five participating CBDCs, **China's e-CNY accounts for an estimated ~95%** of total settlement volume on mBridge [6][6]. - Settlement value grew roughly **2,500-fold** from the 2022 real-value pilot to the figures reported by 2024-25 [6][6]. - The BIS went out of its way to deny mBridge was a "BRICS bridge" or a sanctions workaround — a sign of how closely the platform is watched as a possible challenger to dollar-based cross-border infrastructure [7][7] [8][8]. ## Status **Live MVP, partner-operated.** mBridge reached MVP in June 2024, the BIS exited in October 2024, and the five partner central banks continue to run it. Cumulative cross-border settlement has surpassed **USD 55 billion** (about USD 55.5B) across **4,000+ transactions**, with e-CNY making up ~95% of volume [1][1] [6][6] [7][7]. ## Sources [1] [Project mBridge reached minimum viable product stage](https://www.bis.org/about/bisih/topics/cbdc/mcbdc_bridge.htm) — BIS Innovation Hub, 2024 [2] [Project mBridge reaches minimum viable product stage and invites further international participation](https://www.bis.org/press/p240605.htm) — Bank for International Settlements (press release), 2024 [3] [Project mBridge reaches MVP stage](https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2024/06/20240605-4/) — Hong Kong Monetary Authority, 2024 [4] [Project mBridge reaches MVP stage](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202406/05/P2024060500245.htm) — Government of the HKSAR, 2024 [5] [Project mBridge reaches MVP stage](https://www.omfif.org/2024/08/project-mbridge-reaches-mvp-stage/) — OMFIF, 2024 [6] [China-led CBDC platform mBridge tops $55 billion in transaction volume](https://www.tradingview.com/news/cointelegraph:9c2c921fc094b:0-china-led-cbdc-project-mbridge-tops-55b-in-cross-border-payments/) — Cointelegraph via TradingView, 2025 [7] [BIS to leave cross-border payments platform Project mBridge / BIS cuts ties with mBridge](https://cryptoslate.com/bis-cuts-ties-with-controversial-cbdc-project-mbridge-citing-project-maturity/) — CryptoSlate, 2024 [8] [BIS to hand over Project mBridge to central banks](https://www.centralbanking.com/fintech/cbdc/7962626/bis-to-hand-over-project-mbridge-to-central-banks) — Central Banking, 2024 [1]: https://www.bis.org/about/bisih/topics/cbdc/mcbdc_bridge.htm [2]: https://www.bis.org/press/p240605.htm [3]: https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2024/06/20240605-4/ [4]: https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202406/05/P2024060500245.htm [5]: https://www.omfif.org/2024/08/project-mbridge-reaches-mvp-stage/ [6]: https://www.tradingview.com/news/cointelegraph:9c2c921fc094b:0-china-led-cbdc-project-mbridge-tops-55b-in-cross-border-payments/ [7]: https://cryptoslate.com/bis-cuts-ties-with-controversial-cbdc-project-mbridge-citing-project-maturity/ [8]: https://www.centralbanking.com/fintech/cbdc/7962626/bis-to-hand-over-project-mbridge-to-central-banks ## Deployments _No country reports mention this standard by name._ ## Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country - Multilateral