According to a Reuters report citing data from the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank tracking central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), China's e-CNY has processed $55 billion in cross-border transactions through the mBridge platform. mBridge is a multi-CBDC bridge designed to facilitate real-time cross-border payments and foreign exchange transactions using digital currencies of participating nations.
Key Metrics from mBridge
Reuters reporter Marc Jones wrote that transfers conducted through the mBridge protocol have exceeded $55 billion, with 95% settled in e-CNY. The platform bypasses traditional systems like SWIFT, eliminates intermediaries, and uses smart contracts for compliance, fixed exchange rates, and cryptographic security, enabling settlements within seconds at near-zero cost. The Atlantic Council data shows mBridge has handled over 4,000 transfers.
Participants include the People's Bank of China, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, the Central Bank of the UAE, and the Bank of Saudi Arabia, with an additional 20 commercial banks using the technology.
Domestic Adoption of Digital Yuan
Data from the PBOC cited by Reuters shows e-CNY has settled approximately 3.4 billion transactions worth about 16.7 trillion yuan ($2.4 trillion). While early adoption was limited, the digital yuan is now gaining practical usage and recording measurable increases in real-world use. This suggests that China's CBDC is moving beyond pilot-stage optics into functional deployment, particularly outperforming other nations in cross-border settlement.
Global CBDC Landscape
Atlantic Council data indicates that as of end-2025, alongside China's global leadership in CBDCs, 136 other countries are in development, pilot, or launch stages. Beyond China (still in pilot mode), three countries have fully rolled out retail CBDCs: the Bahamas (Sand Dollar), Jamaica (JAM-DEX), and Nigeria (eNaira). Venezuela's PETRO is not classified as a fully realized CBDC, as it operated more like a state-backed cryptocurrency token without genuine central bank issuance on a sovereign ledger.
Expert Perspectives
“Taken together, these developments point to a gradual expansion of the yuan's internationalization through digital infrastructure,” Alisha Chhangani of the Atlantic Council told Jones. “Project mBridge is unlikely to challenge dollar dominance directly, but it may incrementally erode it.” While e-CNY is unlikely to upend the dollar-based system outright, its growing transaction volume, institutional backing, and expanding international rails via mBridge point to a slow but deliberate recalibration of how global payments infrastructure may evolve in the coming years.