Saudi Arabia quietly exits mBridge, the China-backed rival to dollar payment rails

Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from mBridge, the China-led platform for settling cross-border payments in central bank digital currencies outside the U.S. dollar system, Middle East Eye reported on Sept. 20, citing the Financial Times. The Saudi Central Bank, known as SAMA, said its role had always been limited to a planned research program and that it ceased to be a participating member once that work was done.

"As planned, SAMA successfully completed its mBridge [proof of concept] on 13 May 2025. Following the completion of the PoC, SAMA is no longer a participating member of mBridge," the central bank said, according to Azerbaijani outlet Axar.az, which also cited the FT report.

The exit was not announced at the time. According to Middle East Eye, a second person familiar with the matter told the FT that SAMA was still quietly taking part in the project. Lebanese outlet Ya Libnan, summarizing the same report, quoted a source as saying SAMA "wanted to end its public involvement" but "continues to engage discreetly." Another person familiar with the matter said it would be "inaccurate to draw any wider inference of US pressure from the exit given Riyadh's limited initial scope," Ya Libnan reported.

What mBridge is

Riyadh became a member in 2024, joining the Bank for International Settlements and the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, Middle East Eye reported. SAMA had first come in as an observer in 2023 before taking part in pilot operations the following year, according to Ya Libnan and the Seoul Economic Daily. The platform's central bank members include the People's Bank of China, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand and the Central Bank of the UAE, Axar.az reported.

The system runs on blockchain technology that lets central banks transact directly with one another in their own digital currencies, which its backers say could cut transaction costs and reduce the dollar's role as an intermediary, Middle East Eye said. Ya Libnan described the design as a way to bypass dollar-clearing intermediaries such as SWIFT.

A project already losing Western cover

Saudi Arabia is not the first institution to step away. The Bank for International Settlements, the Basel-based coordinator of the project, pulled out in October 2024, according to Ya Libnan and Axar.az. The Seoul Economic Daily reported that Agustin Carstens, then the BIS general manager, said at the time that the project had been handed over to its central bank partners and that the exit was neither the result of failure nor of political considerations.

Washington's concerns have been on the record for some time. The Seoul Economic Daily quoted Daleep Singh, then White House deputy national security adviser, as warning that China could gain "enormous influence in setting the platform's standards on privacy, security, interoperability and enforcement of U.S. sanctions." The same report noted that U.S. President Donald Trump has warned BRICS members they would face 100% tariffs if they pursue a dollar alternative. Economist Eswar Prasad of Cornell University and the Brookings Institution offered the opposite reading, telling the paper that platforms like mBridge "would benefit their economies and offer a way to reduce excessive dependence on the dollar-centered financial system."

What it means: The facts point to a hedged retreat rather than a clean break. SAMA's own statement dates its formal exit to May 2025, more than a year before it became public, and two separate sources describe continued discreet engagement, which suggests Riyadh wanted to stop being named as a member of a Chinese-anchored payments network without giving up the technical access. Read alongside the BIS departure in 2024, Singh's warning about sanctions enforcement and Trump's tariff threat against de-dollarization efforts, the pattern is that mBridge is shedding the participants most exposed to Washington while keeping its core in Beijing, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Abu Dhabi. For the Gulf, that leaves the UAE as the region's only remaining public member, and it leaves the question of whether oil trade can move onto non-dollar rails unanswered for now. The platform still exists; what has changed is who is willing to be seen using it.