China‑led mBridge, a multi‑CBDC cross‑border payments platform, processed roughly $55.5 billion in transactions by late 2025, according to mid‑January 2026 reports. The volume underscores rapid scaling and cements the digital yuan’s dominant role on the network.
Data reported in mid‑January 2026 show mBridge handled about $55.5 billion in cross‑border settlements through late 2025. China’s digital yuan (e‑CNY) accounted for roughly 95% of that volume — about $52.7 billion — highlighting the currency’s central role in activity on the platform.
That figure represents a steep acceleration from the project’s pilot phase in 2022; reports describe a roughly 2,500‑fold increase in settled volume since early testing. Analysts cited in the coverage noted this shift as evidence that mBridge moved beyond experimental trials into production‑grade flows.
Separately, data from the People’s Bank of China documented the broader e‑CNY footprint: about 3.4 billion domestic and cross‑border transactions and a total value reported at approximately 2.4 trillion, according to January reporting. These domestic volumes help explain why the e‑CNY dominates mBridge settlement activity.
Participants, architecture and geopolitical stakes
mBridge reached a minimum viable product stage and runs on a bespoke mBridge Ledger built on distributed ledger technology with compatibility for the Ethereum Virtual Machine. The design enables direct peer‑to‑peer settlement between participating central banks, lowering transaction costs, credit exposure and settlement times — shrinking multi‑day processes to seconds, according to reports.
The Bank for International Settlements’ Innovation Hub helped develop the project from 2021 but formally stepped back in late 2024, describing the handover as a ‘graduation’ and prompting the BIS to focus on alternate CBDC workstreams.
Despite technical readiness, the project faces non‑technical hurdles. Regulatory alignment across jurisdictions, data‑privacy concerns, monetary‑sovereignty questions and broader geopolitical sensitivities remain active constraints on wider adoption. Reports also flagged interoperability and policy harmonization as critical areas for future progress.
For markets and policymakers, mBridge’s $55.5 billion throughput confirms that wholesale CBDC rails can carry meaningful cross‑border traffic. Investors and central banks alike will watch whether the platform expands into trade‑linked settlements, especially in energy and commodity markets, and whether interoperability and regulatory frameworks keep pace with adoption.
