China's mBridge bets on blockchain to break SWIFT's global grip

China is closing in on a commercial rollout of mBridge, a proposed blockchain-based settlement network that will directly compete with SWIFT. Beijing is pushing for the newly proposed settlement network, which already has over $69 billion in successful transactions outside the legacy SWIFT messaging system.

China’s mBridge project poses a direct threat to the dollar and the SWIFT ecosystem. The move is in line with China’s consistent efforts to address overdependence on the dollar. As of now, mBridge has processed over $69 billion outside traditional frameworks and aims to internationalize the Chinese yuan as an alternative to the dominant USD.

According to reports, the mBridge platform offers significantly lower transaction costs, estimated at approximately half the typical costs in the SWIFT network. The mBridge project is targeting mainly smaller institutions, which often find SWIFT expensive and, at times, inconvenient, especially for cross-border transactions with significant wait times.

Although the project is still in its early stages, people familiar with the matter have revealed that a specialized legal entity based in Hong Kong will handle mBridge’s daily operations once it reaches commercial status.

Central banks in Asia and the Middle East back mBridge

The mBridge project has been in development since 2021. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority collaborated with the Bank of Thailand, PBoC, and the central bank of the UAE to begin preliminary experiments.

Saudi Arabia and the BIS later joined the 2024. The BIS came on board to provide oversight after mBridge was flagged for potentially sidestepping dollar-based sanctions. mBridge first went live in 2025, when the UAE became the first major country to test live transactions directly on its network.

Currently, mBridge operates in 6 territories with hopes to expand in the future. mBridge facilitates cross-border transactions between China, Hong Kong, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and, most recently, Macau.

Tom Keatinge, founding director of the Center for Finance and Security at the Royal United Services Institute, described the broader strategy behind the project as a kind of digital-currency version of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure push, framing it as one piece of a longer-term plan to give digital currencies a permanent seat at the global settlement table.

How is mBridge a threat to SWIFT?

SWIFT still remains the undisputed king of cross-border transactions, with roughly over $150 trillion in annual transaction volume. However, technological advancements in the financial space have continuously challenged the status quo. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been touted as a proper alternative to the existing TradFi ecosystem.

However, as stablecoins now account for a significant share of digital transactions, mBridge is challenging SWIFT, with its main focus on yuan-based stablecoins that offer alternatives to players moving away from the dollar.

Unlike SWIFT, the Chinese-backed project reportedly addressed the structural weaknesses in the SWIFT ecosystem. The platform implements blockchain technology to settle transactions directly on a shared ledger using multiple CBDCs. The implementation completely removes the correspondent-banking layer entirely, cutting settlement time from multiple days under the SWIFT ecosystem to just a few seconds.

Wang Jian, chief financial sector analyst at Guosen Securities, has argued that mBridge adoption could ease liquidity strain and accelerate cash turnover for participating central banks. However, other observers also note that most current volume still flows between just two members, China and Hong Kong, meaning the network’s claim to global impact has not yet been tested at scale.

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