China suffers another setback in effort to de-dollarize global finance as anchor in the greenback’s dominance quietly exits Beijing’s payment scheme

Saudi Arabia quietly dropped out of China’s mBridge digital payment platform, which Beijing has touted as an alternative to the dollar-dominated SWIFT system, according to the Financial Times .

China launched mBridge in 2021, enabling central banks to use digital currencies to carry out transactions directly via blockchain technology.

China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the so-called central bank for global central banks, initially signed up.

Saudi Arabia told the FT that its central bank, also known as SAMA, first joined “mBridge under the umbrella of BIS as an observing member” in 2023 as part of its research into central bank digital currencies, then participated in efforts in 2024 to create a proof of concept.

“As planned, SAMA successfully completed its mBridge [proof of concept] on 13 May 2025.

Following the completion of the PoC, SAMA is no longer a participating member of mBridge,” a statement from the central bank said.

A source also told the FT that the Saudi Central Bank no longer wanted to be publicly involved with mBridge.

When asked if the kingdom came under U.S. pressure to withdraw, another source said it would be “inaccurate to draw any wider inference.” That’s after the BIS left mBridge in October 2024 as the U.S. reportedly lobbied it to exit .

But the BIS said it had “graduated out” and denied there were any political considerations.

Saudi Arabia’s initial participation was seen as a major win for mBridge as the oil-producing giant serves as the foundation of today’s “petrodollar” regime that goes back to a deal struck in 1974, when Riyadh agreed to price its oil in dollars and invest surpluses in U.S. assets.

The petrodollar eventually spilled over to other areas of commerce, and the greenback is now used in about 90% of global transactions.

Because oil is a core input to global manufacturing and transport, supply chains have a natural incentive to dollarize.

Indeed, Mideast oil and gas is used to make petrochemicals, fertilizer, and even helium, which is critical to chipmaking.

“The world saves in dollars in large part because it pays in dollars,” Deutsche Bank said in note in March.