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Sylvia Ma

Saudi Arabia’s withdrawal from a China-led digital currency platform would carry greater symbolic than operational significance, analysts say, highlighting pressures facing countries caught between US influence and alternatives to dollar-based payments infrastructure.
In a response to inquiries from the South China Morning Post, the Saudi Central Bank said it had participated in mBridge – a multilateral central bank digital currency platform seen as an alternative to the traditional US dollar-dominated payments system – only on a limited proof-of-concept basis, which it successfully completed on May 13 last year, after which it was “no longer a participating member of mBridge”.
The move appeared “more significant symbolically than operationally” and did not “necessarily undermine the project’s viability”, said Matteo Giovannini, senior finance manager at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
“It does … underline the geopolitical sensitivity of building alternative cross-border payment infrastructure at a time when the dollar-based financial system remains deeply intertwined with global trade and security relationships,” said Giovannini, who is also an AsiaGlobal Fellow at the University of Hong Kong.
“The more important question is whether these participants can move mBridge from a successful technical experiment towards meaningful real-world adoption and a broader network of users.”
Saudi can still watch the platform privately, so mBridge’s future looks narrower and more regional, not dead
Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Natixis
Project mBridge, together with China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, is widely viewed as part of Beijing’s broader push to establish alternatives to traditional US dollar-centric payment networks.
That effort has gained momentum in recent years amid heightened tensions between the world’s two largest economies and growing concerns over the weaponisation of the US dollar.
Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at French investment bank Natixis, also characterised the move as “a political signal more than a technical one”.
“[It] dents the ‘anti-dollar coalition’ story without stopping mBridge among [mainland] China, [Hong Kong], Thailand, UAE [United Arab Emirates] and Macau,” she said.
“Saudi can still watch the platform privately, so mBridge’s future looks narrower and more regional, not dead.”
Aside from Saudi Arabia, which joined the project in 2024, mBridge includes the central banks of mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the UAE, as well as Macau, which joined in June.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which helped launch mBridge in 2021, withdrew from the project in October 2024. A BIS official told the media at the time that its withdrawal was because the project had reached a stage where its central bank partners could take it forward independently, rather than for political considerations.
De-dollarisation efforts have nevertheless faced pressure from Washington, with US President Donald Trump previously threatening 100 per cent tariffs on Brics countries if they move to create a new currency or replace the US dollar.
Brics began as an association of five major emerging national economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – but has expanded significantly.
“Third countries are increasingly being squeezed by the great power competition, with the US usually on the offensive side,” said Xu Tianchen, an economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“It has intervened in projects in Brazil and Nicaragua, and Saudi Arabia may be under US [influence] as well.”


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The departure sends political signal rather than materially threatens project, analysts say


The departure sends political signal rather than materially threatens project, analysts say.


What Saudi Arabia’s exit means for China-led mBridge amid global de-dollarisation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The departure sends political signal rather than materially threatens project, analysts say

The departure sends political signal rather than materially threatens project, analysts say