What happened
- Specific facts/numbers: Saudi Arabia had joined Project mBridge as a full participant in 2024; BIS said the platform had reached the minimum viable product stage in mid-2024, while later reports said the Saudi proof of concept was completed in May 2025.
- Institutions involved: The Saudi Central Bank, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, People’s Bank of China’s Digital Currency Institute, Bank of Thailand, Central Bank of the UAE, and the BIS have all been tied to mBridge.
- Regulatory/technical context: mBridge is a multi-CBDC, distributed-ledger-based platform designed to enable more direct cross-border payments and FX settlement between participating central banks and commercial banks, as an alternative to slower, costlier correspondent banking flows.
- What to watch next: Watch for any official Saudi Central Bank statement confirming the withdrawal and for whether the remaining mBridge central-bank members change governance, participant scope, or rollout plans; no concrete next milestone was identified in the material reviewed.
Why it matters
Saudi Arabia’s exit underscores that even high-profile cross-border CBDC projects may remain limited to pilot or proof-of-concept participation, affecting expectations for commercial rollout and network scale.
HKMA Relevance
Direct: This centers on mBridge, a cross-border CBDC project in which the HKMA is a core central-bank participant, so any membership change is directly relevant to HKMA’s payments and tokenization agenda.