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Daisy Wu

A leading Chinese bank has processed the largest cross-border transactions yet via mBridge, a multilateral central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform, marking a major milestone for the emerging payment network as well as Beijing’s global yuan ambitions.
Two transactions, worth more than US$1.7 billion each, were carried out by the Bank of China’s Shenzhen and Fujian branches in June and July, respectively. They showed mBridge’s ability to support high-value cross-border settlements across different currencies and business scenarios, the lender said on Tuesday.
In June, an outbound transfer of 11.3 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) delivered same-day, full-value funds to a corporate client via the network – which comprises central banks from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Thailand.
The following month, an inbound transaction in Hong Kong dollars moved from an overseas sender to an onshore corporate account in under 60 minutes. The bank said this transaction set the record for the largest transaction on the platform since its inception, but did not specify the amount.
The landmark transfers signal China’s broader strategic effort to construct alternative cross-border clearing rails, accelerating the internationalisation of the Chinese currency while bypassing traditional, Western-centric financial networks.
The mBridge project seeks to reshape cross-border payments by using blockchain technology to enable faster settlement through CBDCs. Unlike traditional international payment channels, which rely on chains of intermediary banks, incurring high fees and settlement delays, mBridge enables direct, peer-to-peer settlement.
As an early participant in the platform’s pilot programmes, the Bank of China has increased its mBridge activity since commercialising the service in April 2024.
In June, the bank processed Macau’s first mBridge transaction since the city joined the platform, an e-CNY transfer to Hong Kong exceeding 20 million yuan.
On the same day, Bank of China’s Macau branch executed the city’s first mBridge payment to the UAE, a deal that “broadened currency circulation channels towards the Middle East and unlocked the cross-border value of digital finance”, according to domestic media reports.
By late June, total cumulative transactions on mBridge passed 600 billion yuan, with the lender maintaining a dominant lead in volume and enterprise deployment, according to the lender’s data.
Beijing’s effort to construct alternative cross-border clearing infrastructure comes as global yuan adoption faces ongoing headwinds.
The currency accounted for just under 2 per cent of global foreign exchange reserves in the first quarter of 2026, data from the International Monetary Fund showed.
Meanwhile, the yuan’s share of global payments processed by Brussels-based Swift, the predominant interbank network, dropped to 2.75 per cent in May, maintaining the currency’s sixth-place ranking worldwide.
Analysts said mBridge was a critical mechanism for Beijing to mitigate geopolitical risks and reduce reliance on traditional dollar-dominated rails.
The project was “envisioned as a means to break away from this status quo and secure a mechanism for [yuan]-denominated settlements, even in environments with heightened geopolitical risks and active economic sanctions”, said a July report published by the Japan Research Institute.
Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank, said the platform’s expanding range of transactions would be critical to its long-term success.
“The more mBridge use cases there are, the higher the platform’s maturity,” he said, adding that such evolution could help position the platform as an alternative channel alongside Swift while supporting the internationalisation of the yuan.
He noted that although transactions were still being conducted on a case-by-case basis, their growing size suggested significant potential for wider adoption.
Looking ahead, Bank of China said in a statement that it planned to further expand its mBridge offerings by upgrading cross-border payment infrastructure, supporting additional currencies and broadening its geographic reach to both assist corporate clients operating globally and promote internationalisation of the yuan.


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Bank of China uses mBridge for two cross-border transfers worth more than US$1.7 billion each, as CBDC platform gathers momentum


Bank of China uses mBridge for two cross-border transfers worth more than US$1.7 billion each, as CBDC platform gathers momentum.


China-dominated central bank digital currency platform touts largest transactions to date

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Bank of China uses mBridge for two cross-border transfers worth more than US$1.7 billion each, as CBDC platform gathers momentum

Bank of China uses mBridge for two cross-border transfers worth more than US$1.7 billion each, as CBDC platform gathers momentum