Saudi Arabia Exits China's mBridge Cross-Border Payments Program

# Saudi Arabia Exits China's mBridge Cross-Border Payments Program

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: Independent payments-trade report citing Financial Times reporting and a Saudi government confirmation provided to the FT
> Source: [PYMNTS](https://www.pymnts.com/news/cross-border-payments/2026/saudi-arabia-exits-chinas-mbridge-cross-border-payments-program)
> Published: 2026-09-20
> Captured: 2026-09-21T02:19:09.617Z

## Source summary

PYMNTS, citing the Financial Times, reports that the Saudi government confirmed Saudi Arabia left the mBridge central-bank digital-currency project in 2025 and said the departure had always been planned. A source familiar with the decision told the FT that inferring U.S. pressure would be inaccurate because Saudi participation had been limited. The remaining project uses central-bank digital currencies for direct cross-border settlement and was described as approaching commercial launch.

## Why it matters

A participant's exit changes the institutional scope of a cross-border settlement network intended to reduce intermediary-currency use and foreign-exchange time and cost. The withdrawal occurred in 2025 and is newly reported, not a September 2026 operational shutdown. PYMNTS relies on the FT's government confirmation; Payments Hot did not access a direct Saudi central-bank notice. The reported 4,047 transactions and USD 55.49 billion volume are attributed to an Atlantic Council report as of November 2025 and do not establish current production breadth, savings or corridor performance.

## Key numbers

- **Reported year of Saudi exit:** 2025
- **mBridge transactions reported as of November 2025:** 4,047
- **mBridge value reported as of November 2025:** USD 55.49B

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Payment infrastructure
- Entities: Saudi Central Bank / mBridge
- Payment infrastructure
- Cross-border payments
- Web3 payments

## Evidence and credibility note

Readable PYMNTS report citing Financial Times reporting and a Saudi government confirmation supplied to the FT. The exit and its 2025 timing are secondary-source evidence; no direct Saudi central-bank notice or independently measured current network performance was accessed.

Date evidence: PYMNTS article:published_time and visible byline record September 20, 2026 at 21:42:31 UTC

## First-party corroboration

No directly corresponding A1 company announcement is currently linked.

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original PYMNTS report](https://www.pymnts.com/news/cross-border-payments/2026/saudi-arabia-exits-chinas-mbridge-cross-border-payments-program)

---

This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.