Do central bank digital currencies and multi-CBDC platforms such as mBridge compete with XRP?

The full answer

A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is money issued directly by a central bank in digital form. A multi-CBDC platform links several of these, so banks in different countries can pay each other in central bank money without a chain of correspondent banks in between. That is the same problem XRP is promoted to solve. The BIS describes such arrangements as “Joining up national digital currencies in common interoperable platforms.”[1] In my reading, what differs is the asset: a platform like mBridge moves each member country’s own central bank money, with no separate bridge asset in between. The BIS page does not mention a bridge asset either way.

What is mBridge, and how far has it got?

The BIS describes mBridge as “a multi-central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform shared among participating central banks and commercial banks, built on distributed ledger technology (DLT) to enable instant cross-border payments and settlement.”[1] Its ledger supports “real-time, peer-to-peer, cross-border payments and foreign exchange transactions.”[1]

Its record, from the central banks involved and the BIS:

• 2022 pilot. “20 banks in four jurisdictions used the mBridge platform to conduct over 160 payment and foreign exchange transactions totalling more than HK$171 million,” according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.[2]
• Mid-2024. mBridge “reached the minimum viable product (MVP) stage,” and “The Saudi Central Bank joined in 2024.”[1]
• October 2024. “The BIS announced in October 2024 that it was handing the project over to the partners.”[1] Fortune reports that the BIS said it had “graduated out” and denied any political reason.[5]
• May 2025. The Saudi Central Bank completed its proof of concept on May 13, 2025. It said that afterwards “SAMA is no longer a participating member of mBridge,” in a statement to the Financial Times, as reported by Fortune on September 21, 2026.[5]
• September 2026 report. Fortune reported on September 21, 2026 that mBridge had added Macau as a participant “recently.”[5]

How much has mBridge actually moved?

Of the platforms on this page, mBridge has the largest published totals, and both reports below put almost all of it in one currency. China News Service reported on January 8, 2026 that from trial operation in June 2024 to the end of 2025, mBridge handled 4,868 cross-border payments worth RMB 477.8 billion. It put the digital yuan at about 96% of transaction value across all currencies.[3] Reuters, using Atlantic Council data, reported on January 16, 2026 a cumulative $55.5 billion, “with the digital yuan estimated to now account for approximately 95% of the volume.”[4] The two totals can’t be compared directly. The China News Service figure is in renminbi and covers trial operation from June 2024 to the end of 2025. Reuters gives a US dollar total as of its January 16, 2026 report, gives no start date for it, and dates the project’s early days to 2022. Both put the digital yuan’s share at 95% or more, one by value and one by volume. As of September 29, 2026, English and Chinese web searches found no 2026 figure and no People’s Bank of China original for the China News Service total.

What are other central banks building instead?

Project Agorá, among others. According to the BIS, the project involves the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Bank of France (representing the Eurosystem), the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Mexico and the Swiss National Bank.[6] It works with tokenised versions of central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits. In May 2026 the BIS said it had “shown the possibility of completing atomic settlement of wholesale cross-border transactions using tokenised central bank reserves and tokenised commercial bank deposits.”[6] The BIS adds that tokenisation “does not alter the legal characterisation” of reserves or deposits.[6]

In July 2026, “Twenty-eight financial institutions and central banks across Asia, Europe and North America completed transactions in a selection of currencies totalling approximately CHF 800,000,” in Swiss francs, euros, pounds, yen, won and dollars.[7] The BIS calls this real-value testing. About CHF 800,000 is small next to the cumulative $55.5 billion Reuters reported for mBridge on January 16, 2026.[4]

A third approach links countries’ instant payment systems to each other. Nexus Global Payments says it is “linking Instant Payment Systems (IPS) across borders.” It says it was “established in 2025 by the central banks of India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand,” and that Indonesia joined in 2026.[8] Its About page gave no go-live date as of September 29, 2026. How Kinexys compares with XRP is covered on how Kinexys compares with XRP.

Where could a neutral bridge asset still have a role?

In my analysis, in the currency pairs that no platform connects and that trade thinly. mBridge links its member central banks. Agorá’s real-value test covered six currencies. Neither, in my reading of the BIS descriptions, connects currencies outside those groups.[1][7] On the XRP Ledger’s exchange, a thin pair can be completed through XRP. The ledger’s documentation gives the example of buying XRP with pounds and selling it for Brazilian reais.[11] Ripple argues XRP “is especially useful to create liquidity for long-tail assets,” meaning currencies with little direct trading.[10]

That role has limits. In this site’s analysis, it depends on traders holding XRP on both sides of a thin pair, as in the ledger’s own example.[11] As of September 29, 2026, no measure of how much volume moves through such pairs was found in the BIS, Ripple or XRPL.org sources for this page. Whether another neutral asset could fill the same gap is covered on whether another bridge asset could do the job.

Ripple has also marketed a CBDC Platform. Ripple said in May 2023 that it had launched the platform, “built on a new private ledger underpinned by the XRPL’s core energy-efficient technology.”[9] As of September 29, 2026, Ripple’s CBDC solution web address opens a July 2024 article instead.[10] I found no 2026 Ripple statement on the product.

What is the strongest case that CBDC platforms make XRP unnecessary?

Reuters, citing Atlantic Council data, put the cumulative value of mBridge payments at $55.5 billion on January 16, 2026.[4] China News Service put the total from trial operation in June 2024 to the end of 2025 at RMB 477.8 billion.[3] That is central bank digital currency, on a platform the BIS describes as shared among central banks and commercial banks.[1] In this site’s analysis, central banks, not private market makers, stand behind that money. If platforms like Agorá go live and link enough of the currencies banks use, the thin-pair gap shrinks too.

The best counter-argument is concentration. The digital yuan is about 95% of mBridge’s volume (Reuters, citing Atlantic Council data, January 16, 2026) and about 96% of its transaction value from trial operation in June 2024 to the end of 2025 (China News Service).[3][4] The Saudi Central Bank said it is no longer a participating member, Fortune reported on September 21, 2026.[5] The BIS describes Agorá’s July 2026 work as real-value testing.[7] What would give XRP a lasting advantage if these platforms spread is examined on what would give XRP a moat.