Saudi
Arabia’s
central
bank
has
joined
Project
mBridge
–
a
cross-border
experiment
with
central
bank
digital
currencies
(CBDCs)
for
international
trade
–
as
a
full
participant,
the
Switzerland-based
Bank
for
International
Settlements
(BIS)
announced
Wednesday.
Project
mBridge
was
launched
in
2021
as
a
collaboration
between
the
BIS’
innovation
arm
and
the
central
banks
of
China,
Hong
Kong,
Thailand
and
the
United
Arab
Emirates
(UAE)
to
test
the
viability
of
CBDCs
for
instantaneous
cross-border
trade
and
other
payments
using
the
project’s
blockchain,
the
mBridge
Ledger.
Read
more:
A
CBDC
Alternative
to
SWIFT?
BIS
also
announced
Wednesday
that
Project
mBridge
has,
after
three
years,
reached
the
minimum
viable
product
(MVP)
stage
and
has
requested
private
sector
financial
firms
to
“propose
new
solutions
and
use
cases
that
help
develop
the
platform
and
showcase
all
its
potential.”
In
addition
to
mBridge’s
six
full
participants,
27
other
official
entities
–
including
the
International
Monetary
Fund
(IMF),
the
World
Bank
and
the
central
banks
of
countries
including
Norway,
South
Korea
and
Turkey
–
have
signed
on
as
observers
to
the
project,
giving
them
access
to
a
“sandbox”
for
experimentation
with
the
technology.
Major
global
financial
institutions,
including
Goldman
Sachs,
HSBC
and
China’s
six
biggest
state-owned
banks,
are
also
working
on
the
project.
