According to CoinDesk, the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia has officially joined Project mBridge, an experimental project for cross-border digital currencies (CBDCs) initiated by the Swiss Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Launched in 2021, Project mBridge is a collaboration between the BIS Innovation Department and the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to test the feasibility of CBDCs in instant cross-border trade and other payments. BIS also announced that after three years of hard work, Project mBridge has reached the minimum viable product (MVP) stage and invited private financial companies to "propose new solutions and use cases to help develop the platform and demonstrate its full potential." In addition to the six full participants of mBridge, 27 official entities, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and central banks in countries such as Norway, South Korea and Turkey, have participated in the project as observers. Major global financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, HSBC and China's six major state-owned banks are also participating in the project.