Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from Embridge, a China-backed cross-border digital currency project designed to enable direct transactions between central banks, according to the Financial Times.
SAMA, the central bank of Saudi Arabia, has fully joined Embridge Participant in June 2024 and ended its participation after completing a proof of concept at the FT on May 13, 2025. Reportquoted a statement from the central bank. Sama said it plans to end its participation.
Embridge was established A collaboration between the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub and the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates aims to make cross-border payments faster and cheaper by 2021.
Instead of using a single stablecoin, the platform allows participating central banks the problem and transact their own digital currencies on a shared ledger, including cross-border payments and foreign exchange transactions.
The project continued to develop under BIS until October 2024, when the agency handed it over to participating central banks after Embridge reached its minimum viable product stage. Then-BIS General Manager Augustine Carstens said BIS exit was not politically motivated.
Yet the project has drawn scrutiny from US policymakers. A 2024 Report The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said that Embridge could eventually provide an alternative cross-border settlement system for countries seeking to avoid US sanctions.
Cointelegraph contacted the Saudi Central Bank for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
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China considers role of digital currency in cross-border payments
China’s central bank, meanwhile, has increasingly focused on the role stablecoins can play in cross-border payments as their use expands globally.
In June, Wang Jin, director general of the People’s Bank of China Research Bureau, called for greater international coordination as well as closer monitoring of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies in cross-border payments.
His comments came months after Chinese authorities clamped down on unauthorized issuance of renminbi-pegged stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, including by foreign entities.
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