Hong Kong has chosen its first licensed stablecoin issuers, and the choice is not a surprise. On April 10, 2026, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued its first two stablecoin licences under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which took effect in August 2025, to The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, better known as HSBC, and Anchorpoint Financial Limited, a joint venture backed by Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecommunications. The decision was deliberate and deeply symbolic. HSBC and Standard Chartered are two of only three commercial banks authorised to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes. By handing the first digital money licences to the same institutions that manage the physical money supply, Hong Kong has sent an unmistakable signal about how it intends to develop its regulated stablecoin ecosystem: through institutions with the deepest roots in the territory’s existing monetary infrastructure.
How the Process Worked
The HKMA assessed 36 applications from the first round and had signalled that the initial batch would be limited. The authority received all first-round applications by the September 30, 2025 deadline, then conducted a comprehensive review focused on risk management, reserve quality, and AML compliance.
Only two licences emerged from 36 applications, a selection rate of approximately 5.5%. The narrow number of approvals supports the HKMA’s message that the licensing threshold remains high and total approvals will stay limited. The 34 unsuccessful first-round applicants now face a choice: refine their applications and re-engage with the HKMA, or redirect resources to other jurisdictions.
HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue called it “an important milestone for the development of digital assets in Hong Kong,” adding that the regulatory regime provides an orderly operating environment for stablecoin issuers to apply innovative technologies while ensuring robust user protection and effective risk management. He stated that the HKMA hopes the promotion of regulated stablecoins will address pain points in financial and economic activities and create value for both individuals and businesses.
What HSBC Plans to Do
HSBC plans to roll out its HKD stablecoin in the second half of 2026, targeting both retail users and merchants. The stablecoin will be fully backed by high-quality liquid assets held in segregated accounts. The bank will integrate the stablecoin into its PayMe platform, which already has over 3.3 million users, and into the HSBC Hong Kong mobile banking app.
The planned use cases cover three areas: peer-to-peer payments allowing instant transfers between users, merchant payments enabling direct payments using stablecoins, and tokenised investments giving users access to digital asset-based products.
HSBC’s participation is notable for an additional reason. HSBC’s entry marks one of the first instances of a global systemically important bank obtaining a stablecoin issuer licence anywhere. Unlike Standard Chartered, HSBC had not taken part in the HKMA’s sandbox process, having focused its digital asset work on tokenised deposit projects. Nevertheless, it emerged as one of only two institutions to receive a licence from the initial pool of 36 applicants. For exchanges and payment platforms operating across Asia, a regulated HSBC-issued stablecoin carries the credibility of one of the world’s most recognisable banking brands, a competitive advantage that crypto-native issuers cannot replicate.
What Anchorpoint Plans to Do
Anchorpoint takes a different approach. Anchorpoint intends to adopt a B2B2C model, leveraging its extensive client bases of selected authorised distributors to enable public access to its Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin, referred to as HKDAP, standing for HKD At Par. A phased rollout is targeted for the second quarter of 2026.
The stated priorities for HKDAP are trade finance focused. Anchorpoint’s stated priorities include facilitating cross-border payments and the settlement of tokenised real-world assets, areas it sees as particularly significant across Hong Kong and the wider Asian region. Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters described the development in terms that position HKDAP as infrastructure rather than a consumer product: “The issuance of HKDAP by Anchorpoint provides a powerful regulated medium of exchange that will further the rewiring of our financial markets and help promote the next generation of international trade. By combining Hong Kong’s regulatory rigour with the efficiency of public blockchain technology, we are moving closer to a world where assets are natively digital, transparent and settled instantaneously.”
The Regulatory Architecture Behind the Licences
The Stablecoins Ordinance framework Hong Kong has built is among the most stringent stablecoin regulatory regimes anywhere in the world. Under Hong Kong’s stablecoin legislation, issuers must hold at least HK$25 million in capital and maintain liquid capital equal to 12 months of operating expenses. They must also offer one-for-one redemption at par within one business day and clearly disclose reserve composition. Hong Kong’s stablecoin framework focuses on fiat-referenced coins and bars algorithmic models from being licensed.
Under the HKMA’s AML guidelines, licensed stablecoins can only be transferred to wallets whose owners have been identity-verified. The travel rule applies to transfers above HK$8,000, equivalent to approximately $1,000. In practice, this means HKD stablecoins will likely embed compliance checks into their smart contracts, restricting transfers to wallets listed in an on-chain whitelist. That makes them structurally different from freely transferable tokens like USDT or USDC.
The identity-verification requirement is a deliberate design choice. It makes the licenced stablecoins less useful for anonymous transactions but far more compatible with institutional compliance requirements, banking correspondent relationships, and the kind of trade finance applications Anchorpoint is targeting. The HKMA is explicitly building a stablecoin infrastructure for regulated finance rather than for permissionless crypto trading.
Why This Matters Beyond Hong Kong
April 10, 2026 was a significant day for stablecoin regulation globally. On the same day Hong Kong issued these licences, Japan’s cabinet approved its FIEA amendment reclassifying crypto as financial instruments. The convergence was not coincidental. Both decisions reflect a broader shift in how major Asian financial centres are choosing to integrate blockchain technology into their existing monetary architecture: through regulation and institutional partnership rather than regulatory ambiguity or prohibition.
Hong Kong is one of the first major financial centres to implement a comprehensive licensing regime specifically for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers. Its framework sets a standard that other jurisdictions are watching, and the involvement of institutions like HSBC signals that regulated stablecoins are becoming a mainstream financial product rather than a crypto-native experiment.
For the global stablecoin market, which is currently dominated by dollar-denominated tokens like USDT and USDC with a combined market cap exceeding $200 billion, the emergence of a fully regulated, institutionally issued HKD stablecoin backed by one of the world’s largest banks represents a meaningful development in the diversification of the stablecoin landscape beyond the US dollar. Whether HKDAP and HSBC’s unnamed token can build genuine usage beyond their initial institutional channels will be the defining question of the next twelve months.
