UAE Completes First Digital Dirham Transaction via mBridge in Under 2 Minutes
The UAE Ministry of Finance and Dubai Department of Finance executed the nation's inaugural Digital Dirham transaction, settling the cross-border payment in less than 120 seconds. The pilot Leveraged the mBridge platform, a multi-CBDC infrastructure developed by central banks including the UAE, China, Thailand, and Hong Kong since 2021.
Ahmed Ali Meftah of Dubai's Finance Department confirmed the test achieved its objectives of validating system readiness and interoperability with the UAE Central Bank's infrastructure. "This demonstrates how CBDCs can streamline intergovernmental settlements," he noted, highlighting the transaction's sub-two-minute completion time.
The mBridge consortium continues expanding, with Saudi Arabia's central bank joining earlier this year as the second GCC participant. The platform represents one of the most advanced wholesale CBDC collaborations to emerge from the BIS Innovation Hub's experiments.
