The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on Tuesday announced that a multi-jurisdiction CBDC pilot spearheaded by BIS Innovation Hub has been successful. The project saw 164 transactions worth nearly $22 million in real-value cross-border payments through a purpose-built multi-CBDC platform – mBridge.
Apart from the central banks of Hong Kong, China, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 20 commercial banks also participated in the project, which lasted a little over a month.
Over $12 million worth of official digital assets (CBDC) was issued by the four participating central banks to the test platform, BIS said in a Linkedin post.
“It took place from 15 August to 23 September on the mBridge Ledger, a custom-developed #DLT platform. The 20 participating commercial banks used the platform to settle different kinds of payments for corporate customers, focusing on cross-border trade. Over $12 million in value was issued onto the platform facilitating over 160 cross-border payments and FX transactions totaling more than $22 million in value,” the post said.
BIS has promised to release a detailed report covering technical design, legal, policy, and other regulatory aspects of its mBridge project during Hong Kong Fintech (31 October- 4 November 2022). The Switzerland-based bank of central banks will also reveal a roadmap for the new development.
Tayo Tunyathon K from Bank of Thailand, who was part of the project, termed it the world’s first pilot using real value CBDC for cross-border trade settlements. In her Linkedin post, she said, “Proud to have been a part of the working team in making this historic milestone! We are only just beginning to see the possibilities of CBDC in bridging borders and facilitating trade/economic growth.”
