China has completed a 40-day trial using central bank digital currencies to settle trades with Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates via a special “bridge” arrangement, according to a brief report published by theThe People’s Bank of China participated in the trial from Aug 15 to Sept 23, testing use of digital currencies on the four sides of the mBridge platform, a multi-country payment project initiated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank of Thailand, and the Bank for...
In the trial, more than 80mil yuan worth of digital fiat money was issued onto the mBridge platform, the central bank newspaper said. It did not provide a breakdown for the different digital currencies used. Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and Thailand are testing central bank digital currencies, and China has rolled out its e-CNY in dozens of designated cities from Beijing to Shenzhen.
Tayo Tunyathon Koonprasert, a digital currency specialist with the Bank of Thailand, said on his LinkedIn account that the trial was the world’s first case of “using real-value CBDC for cross-border trade settlement”.