TechFlow reported that on January 29, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) conducted its first cross-border digital dirham transfer using the mBridge central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform. According to Gulf News, a cross-border CBDC transfer of 50 million dirhams ($13.6 million) was sent to China via the multi-CBDC mBridge platform.
The mBridge project was launched in 2021 by central monetary authorities of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the UAE, in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). This is the only international partnership involving China. The project completed its pilot phase in September 2022 and entered commercial use one year later, in September 2023.
The mBridge platform has already onboarded multiple commercial banks from each participating country to work on infrastructure and technological development.
