China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates’ monetary policy watchdogs have all tested cross-border transfers using digital currencies they have created. The Bank for International Settlement (BIS) announced the successful conclusion of the first central bank digital currency CBDC) pilot on its LinkedIn page on September 27.

The testing ran from August 15 to September 23. It focused on real-value transactions handled by Mbridge, a distributed ledger platform developed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, and the BIS Innovation Hub in 2019. The People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of UAE joined in 2021.

According to the post on Linkedin, 20 commercial banks used the platform throughout the experiment to settle various payments for business customers, primarily in cross-border commerce.

“Over $12 million in value was issued onto the platform facilitating over 160 cross-border payments and FX transactions totaling more than $22 million.”

BIS also noted that it would publish in October a detailed progress report covering technical design, legal, policy, and other regulatory considerations and the future roadmap of mBridge. 

In related news, the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, stated that if the project to convert cryptocurrency passes its test run in the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), he would willingly continue with the crypto project.

Previously, president Tokayev announced that Binance, the largest crypto marketplace, would open a regional office in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan has established itself as a pioneer in Central Asia for crypto acceptance and regulation, according to Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance.