On June 6, 2024, the Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge (hereinafter referred to as “Currency Bridge”) project entered the minimum viable product (MVP) stage. On October 31, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced that the preliminary exploratory work of the “Currency Bridge” has been completed, and the project has reached a mature level that can be handed over to all participants.
Since then, the number of pilot implementations of the “Currency Bridge” has gradually increased, and exploration has moved from testing to practical application.
Since this year, pilot institutions in various places have launched currency bridge business and explored new directions for cross-border payments.
The “Currency Bridge” business has been accelerated and cross-border payment costs have been reduced by at least 50%.
Recently, China Guangfa Bank successfully completed the bank’s first Currency Bridge cross-border remittance business under the agency model, which is an important practice for it in the field of digital RMB cross-border payments.
In December 2025, ICBC Shanghai Branch successfully developed and launched the “Shanghai e-Hui” international remittance function, and successfully handled the first cross-border remittance of 5 million yuan in digital renminbi for enterprises through Currency Bridge, realizing the application of digital renminbi in cross-border financial scenarios.
In August, Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank relied on the “Currency Bridge” platform of the Bank of Communications to successfully handle cross-border remittance business for land freight for export goods for a freight forwarding company. It successfully launched the first direct connection 2.5-layer currency bridge business in Suzhou and the first direct connection in the country within the Bank of Communications system.
Since 2025, “Currency Bridge” pilot businesses similar to the above have emerged one after another, and after entering 2026, more and more commercial banks will accelerate their business layout and expand cross-border business through “Currency Bridge”.
On January 9 this year, the Shenzhen Branch of the People’s Bank of China released the Ten Major Events in 2025, which showed that the “Currency Bridge” will “pave the way and build bridges” for enterprises to go global. The cumulative business volume within the jurisdiction exceeds 24.8 billion yuan, covering application scenarios such as goods trade, service trade, capital projects, supply chains, and bulk commodity transactions, covering key areas of Shenzhen’s comprehensive reform such as Qianhai and Hetao.
It is understood that in the currency bridge business, digital renminbi operating institutions are currently the main participants and participate in the business by directly accessing the underlying system of the central bank’s “currency bridge”, while small and medium-sized banks mainly participate through the agency bank model.
Among them, direct connection 2.5 layer is an innovative access mode under the “money bridge” agent banking model. It means that small and medium-sized banks do not need to directly connect to the central bank’s digital currency underlying system (layer 1), but indirectly access the currency bridge network through large state-owned banks or designated operating agencies (layer 2), significantly lowering the access threshold.
Under this model, through direct system connection, information exchange and business collaboration, 2-tier institutions can build efficient cross-border payment links for 2.5-tier banks, achieving efficient and low-cost clearing of cross-border funds.
The cross-border payment model on Currency Bridge can greatly improve transaction efficiency without compromising compliance, and can also effectively reduce cross-border payment costs. Based on the experience of real transactions on Currency Bridge, transaction costs can be reduced by at least 50%, and cross-border payment time can be shortened from traditional days to seconds.
In February 2021, the Bank for International Settlements (Hong Kong) Innovation Center, the Bank of Thailand (Bank of Thailand), the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority jointly launched the Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge (mBridge) project.
On June 6, 2024, the Currency Bridge project entered the minimum viable product (MVP) stage. At the same time, the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia joined and became a formal member of Currency Bridge.
Since 2025, with the continuous implementation of applications, the transaction scale has grown rapidly.
At present, the digital renminbi cross-border business carried out by commercial banks through the Currency Bridge has gradually shifted from pilot projects to regular operations.
Why are commercial banks willing to accelerate the layout of cross-border business under the Currency Bridge channel?
First of all, commercial banks need to seize the new cross-border payment track and deal with the shortcomings of the traditional cross-border payment system.
The scale of global cross-border payments continues to grow, but the shortcomings of traditional cross-border payment systems in terms of efficiency and cost have become increasingly prominent.
With its technical advantages of real-time settlement, low rates, and high efficiency, the Currency Bridge application provides commercial banks with a more competitive solution.
Secondly, actively respond to policy calls and seize regional financial development opportunities.
At present, the national level and key regions have given clear policy preferences to the construction of currency bridges.
For example, policy documents supporting the construction of Guangzhou Nansha and Shanghai International Financial Centers clearly state that financial institutions are encouraged or supported to participate in multilateral central bank digital currency bridge projects.
Finally, expand business scenarios and use the card ecosystem to seize the dividends of digital RMB internationalization.
The currency bridge application implemented by commercial banks can provide enterprises with a payment experience of “second-level payment and full traceability”. At the same time, through the currency bridge, they can explore cutting-edge areas such as cross-border trade, digital currency, and tokenized deposits, and continuously expand business types.
With the rapid development of the “currency bridge”, the cross-border payment attributes of digital renminbi have become increasingly important.
Data shows that from its trial operation in June 2024 to the end of 2025, the “Currency Bridge” has processed a total of 4,868 cross-border payment businesses, with a cumulative transaction amount equivalent to approximately RMB 477.8 billion, of which digital RMB accounts for approximately 96% of the transaction volume in various currencies.
The “Currency Bridge” model has unique institutional inclusiveness, which provides the possibility for the rapid expansion of the digital RMB ecosystem.
The platform allows participants to issue digital currencies directly on the currency bridge without having to build their own complete central bank digital currency (CBDC) system in advance.
This design greatly lowers the technical and institutional threshold for other countries, especially economies with imperfect financial infrastructure, to join the system.
As one of the founding countries and main promoters of the project, China and its digital renminbi naturally have the influence to export technical standards and participate in the formulation of new rules for cross-border payments in this process.
As the project continues to expand (currently there are more than 30 observers in addition to the initiating unit), the application scope and institutional influence of the digital renminbi are expected to grow exponentially.
