China-led digital currency network hits $55 billion in transactions

Saturday 17 January 2026 - 14:40

By: Dakir Madiha

China-led digital currency network hits $55 billion in transactions

The China-led mBridge digital currency platform has processed over $55 billion in cross-border transactions, according to a fresh Atlantic Council report. This marks a 2,500-fold increase in volume since the project's 2022 launch, highlighting surging momentum for alternatives to dollar-dependent payment systems.

This prototype platform enables direct settlements between central bank digital currencies and has now completed more than 4,000 cross-border transactions involving the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. China's digital yuan, known as e-CNY, accounts for about 95 percent of total settlement volume, positioning mBridge as the world's largest active cross-border CBDC experiment.

The surge follows the Bank for International Settlements' unexpected exit from the project in October 2024. BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens announced the withdrawal at a banking conference in Madrid, framing it as a success. He stated the project had met its goals, allowing participating central banks to proceed independently.

Since the BIS handover, mBridge has expanded swiftly under its partner central banks. In November, the UAE Ministry of Finance and Dubai's Finance Department executed the platform's first government financial transaction using the wholesale digital dirham, proving its viability for public-sector real-world payments.

Alisha Chhangani, associate director at the Atlantic Council's GeoEconomics Center, noted mBridge's growing focus on trade settlements, especially in energy and commodities where China holds a central trading role. She observed that while mBridge may not directly challenge dollar dominance, it could erode it gradually.

mBridge's growth aligns with broader advances in China's digital currency strategy. The People's Bank of China reported that by late 2025, e-CNY had handled over 3.4 billion transactions worth about 16.7 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion), an 800 percent rise since 2023.

On January 1, 2026, China implemented a new management framework allowing e-CNY wallets to earn interest on balances at rates comparable to demand deposits, diverging from global CBDC orthodoxy. This shifts e-CNY from cash-like instrument to digital deposit money, making China the first major economy to operationalize large-scale interest-bearing features.

These developments contrast sharply with U.S. policy. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 23, 2025, banning federal agencies from establishing, issuing, or promoting CBDCs over concerns about financial surveillance and sovereignty, immediately halting all related U.S. projects.

Meanwhile, the BIS has shifted focus to Project Agorá, an alternative platform backed by central banks from Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, including the New York Federal Reserve and Bank of England.