Bank for International Settlements (bis) Innovation hub announces “graduation” Project mBridge.
Project mBridge is a major cross-border payments initiative aimed at leveraging wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens shared this transition during a fireside chat at the 2024 Santander International Banking Conference in Madrid, saying that the decision was due to the maturity of the project and not due to political reasons. He emphasized that this was not due to failure or failure.
Project mBridge Reached minimum viable product (MVP) stage In June, central banks from Thailand, China, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong came together.
The four-year project has attracted significant attention in geopolitical debates, raising questions about whether BRICS countries could use such efforts to circumvent international sanctions.
Addressing these concerns, Carstens asserted that “mBridge is not a ‘BRIC bridge’.”
He stressed that BIS operates in compliance with global standards, ensuring that BIS projects, including mBridge, cannot be used in any sanctioned country.
“We must comply with sanctions and the products we assemble should not be a conduit for violating any of these sanctions.”
he said.
Mr. Carstens reiterated that BIS projects comply with international regulations to avoid facilitating sanctioned activities.
Mr. Carstens also emphasized project agora As another major BIS Innovation Hub initiative.
The project involves central banks and more than 40 private sector participants, and is creating tokenized deposits and wholesale CBDCs to streamline cross-border payments and address inefficiencies in existing systems. We are considering using.
While mBridge has made significant progress in demonstrating how CBDCs can enhance cross-border transactions by reducing time and costs, Carstens said the system will not be fully operational until He admitted that it will still be several years before that happens.
He highlighted the project’s role in fostering cooperation among central banks and promoting the use of CBDC in international finance, and highlighted the project’s far-reaching impact.
“BIS is withdrawing from the project not because it has failed or because of political considerations, but because we have been involved for four years and our partners are at a level where they can continue the project on their own.” It’s already happening in other projects. ”
Mr. Carstens said:
