BIS Concludes CBDC Pilot with Cross-Border Payments Totalling $22 Million Transacted

A pilot project involving four Asian CBDC involving real-value transactions was completed on Sept. 23, according to a LinkedIn post by Bank for International Settlements (BIS) advisor Daniel Eidan. The pilot project, titled mBridge project, facilitated $22 million worth of real-value cross-border transactions between the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the central banks of Thailand, China, the United Arab Emirates, the BIS, along with 20 commercial banks from those regions.

The mBridge is part of the Inthanon-LionRock Phase 2. project, which also experiments with appropriate governance models with jurisdiction-specific regulations. In addition, it sought to design a novel cross-border payment system that resolves the current pain points of banks, including high cost, low speed, and operational complexities.