Reports in the Financial Times that China is preparing to commercialise Project mBridge, the multi-central bank platform that settles cross-border payments directly in digital currencies, have revived the familiar question of whether Beijing can loosen the dollar’s grip. The platform has now handled around $69bn in cross-border settlement, up from $55bn the Atlantic Council tracked in November 2025, with the digital renminbi making up roughly 95% of the total. But this figure is the wrong thing to watch. The more consequential decision took effect quietly on 1 January, when the People’s Bank of China reclassified the ... (full story)