The Central Bank of the UAE has launched the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) platform of the mBridge project – a multi-central bank digital currency common platform for wholesale cross-border payments and settlement.
This is the first multi-CBDC platform which has reached the MVP phase, ready for use by early adopters.
Several banks are part of the collaboration including Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, and the Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China.
In January 2024, the first cross-border payment of ‘Digital Dirham’ worth Dh50 million was initiated through mBridge to China by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Presidential Court and Chairman of the Board of the CBUAE.
It also marked the first realvalue cross-border CBDC payment between a Mena country and a country outside the region on an MVP-ready platform.