China suffers another setback in effort to de-dollarize global finance as anchor in the greenback’s dominance quietly exits Beijing’s payment scheme

Beijing’s digital payment scheme, mBridge, has lost a key participant as Saudi Arabia withdrew from the platform. China launched mBridge in 2021 as an alternative to the dominant dollar in global finance, and initial signatories included China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and the Bank for International Settlements.

The platform aimed to enable central banks to conduct transactions directly using digital currencies through blockchain technology. Saudi Arabia, also known as SAMA, initially joined mBridge in 2023 as an observing member and later participated in creating a proof of concept in 2024. However, after successfully completing its proof of concept on May 13, 2025, SAMA announced its withdrawal from the platform, stating that it no longer wished to be publicly involved with mBridge.

Some sources suggested that the decision might have been influenced by U.S. pressure, but Saudi Arabia denied any such influence. The BIS also left the platform in October 2024, citing the completion of the process. Despite the departure of Saudi Arabia and the BIS, mBridge has continued to expand, adding Macau as a participant recently, and transactions on the platform have surged to over $55 billion, representing a massive 2,500-fold increase since 2022. While mBridge may not directly challenge the dollar's dominance, it could gradually erode it.