China’s ambitious effort to establish a global alternative to dollar-dependent financial systems has reached a significant milestone. Project mBridge, a multi-central bank digital currency platform, has now processed over 4,000 cross-border transactions with a total value surpassing $55 billion, Reuters said in a report.
Data from the Atlantic Council indicates that the digital yuan (e-CNY) dominates this ecosystem, accounting for approximately 95% of the total settlement volume. This surge underscores Beijing’s success in building a parallel digital infrastructure that allows international trade to bypass traditional Western-led banking rails.
The international momentum of the digital yuan is mirrored by an even larger expansion within China’s domestic market. The People’s Bank of China recently reported that the e-CNY has facilitated 3.4 billion transactions worth roughly $2.4 trillion, marking a staggering 800% increase since 2023.
To further cement its role in the financial system, a new framework took effect on January 1, 2026, which allows commercial banks to pay interest on digital yuan holdings. This transition effectively upgrades the e-CNY from “digital cash” to “digital deposit currency,” encouraging institutional and long-term use.
This rapid growth comes despite the exit of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from the mBridge project in late 2024. Following the departure, which officials framed as a “graduation” of the platform, the BIS shifted its resources toward Project Agorá.
This rival initiative involves several Western central banks, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of England, and is currently ramping up testing for its own tokenized cross-border payment system. While mBridge is currently ahead in terms of live transaction volume, the emergence of Project Agorá highlights an intensifying competition to define the future of global digital finance.
Although analysts suggest that these digital platforms are unlikely to dismantle the U.S. dollar’s global dominance in the short term, they are creating durable alternatives for specific corridors and sectors.
By focusing on energy and commodity-linked transactions, China is successfully internationalizing the yuan through digital means. Experts note that while these platforms may not displace the dollar outright, they are steadily eroding its absolute necessity by providing efficient, sovereign alternatives for countries looking to diversify their financial dependencies.
