Bank of China completes largest recorded mBridge transactions, including a HK$10bn payment
Bank of China settled the two largest transactions recorded on mBridge, the multi-central-bank digital currency platform, in June and July 2026. A CNY 11.3bn payment through its Shenzhen branch was followed by a HK$10bn payment through its Fujian branch, the first very large settlement on the platform denominated in a currency other than renminbi.
What happened
Bank of China disclosed two record transactions on mBridge, the cross-border wholesale payment platform originally incubated by the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub with the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. In June 2026 its Shenzhen branch settled CNY 11.3bn, about $1.67bn. In July 2026 its Fujian branch settled HK$10bn, about $1.28bn. The currency mix is the notable detail. Renminbi has accounted for more than 95% of mBridge payment volume to date, so a Hong Kong dollar leg of this size indicates the platform is being used for more than onshore-adjacent renminbi settlement. Cumulative volume figures published by different official sources do not agree. The People's Bank of China put cumulative mBridge volume at CNY 387bn, about $57bn, as of late 2025. The head of its Digital Currency Institute said in late June 2026 that volume was close to CNY 500bn. Bank of China said volume had exceeded CNY 600bn, about $88.7bn, by the end of June 2026. The BIS withdrew from the project in late 2024, leaving the participating central banks to operate it.
Why it matters
mBridge is the largest operating example of central bank money moving across borders on a shared ledger, and it competes directly with correspondent banking rather than with private stablecoins. Transactions of this size demonstrate that the platform can carry wholesale tickets, which is the threshold that determines whether it displaces nostro-vostro arrangements or remains a pilot. The divergence between published cumulative volumes matters for anyone trying to size the platform. Without a single audited series, assessments of mBridge's share of China-Hong Kong wholesale settlement rest on figures that differ by roughly CNY 200bn depending on the source and date.
What is not settled
Cumulative mBridge volume figures diverge across the People's Bank of China, its Digital Currency Institute and Bank of China; no audited series is published.
Institutions in this story
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Bank of China Limited
Bank
The most internationalised of China's four largest state-owned commercial banks, and the most active commercial participant on mBridge, where the HK$10bn settled through its Fujian branch in July 2026 was the first transaction of that size in a currency other than renminbi.
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People's Bank of China
Central bank
Its reclassification of the e-CNY from a cash-like instrument to deposit money, effective 1 January 2026, means real-name wallet balances at authorised commercial banks pay interest, count toward reserve requirements and carry deposit insurance.
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Hong Kong Monetary Authority
Central bank
Licensing authority for Hong Kong's fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers, which granted the territory's first two licences on 10 April 2026, and operator of EnsembleTX, where tokenised money market fund trades settle in experimental tokenised deposits.
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Bank for International Settlements
Standards body
Owned by its member central banks and host to the committees that write global prudential and payments standards; Chapter III of its 2026 Annual Economic Report concludes stablecoins fail all three of its tests for general-purpose money.