The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has issued its first stablecoin licenses to a Standard Chartered-led joint venture, Anchorpoint Financial, and HSBC, as announced on Friday. This move signifies the first batch of approvals under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which came into effect in August 2025. According to HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue, the authority anticipates that the licensed issuers will initiate their operations as planned, exploring growth opportunities while effectively managing risks.
Yue expressed hope that the promotion of regulated stablecoins will address pain points in financial and economic activities, create value for both individuals and businesses, and support the healthy development of digital assets in Hong Kong. The HKMA evaluated 36 applications, prioritizing risk management, reserve quality, and anti-money-laundering controls, and deliberately chose to license note-issuing banks first. HSBC and Standard Chartered are among the three commercial banks authorized to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes, a system dating back to 1846.
The decision to license these banks reflects the parallel between historical 'private money' and modern stablecoins, as outlined by Yue in a December 2023 blog post. The licenses are subject to one of the world's strictest Know Your Customer (KYC) frameworks for digital money, requiring identity verification for wallet owners and restricting transfers above HK$8,000. This framework may lead to the implementation of compliance checks in smart contracts, making HKD stablecoins structurally different from freely transferable tokens.
The bank-led stablecoin model also indicates the HKMA's decision to deprioritize its central bank digital currency for retail use, following an 11-group pilot program that found the retail case to be weak. Instead, stablecoins have become a key focus, with Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters suggesting that they could lay the foundation for a new era of digital trade settlement. However, it remains to be seen whether the market will agree, given the dominance of USD-denominated tokens in the stablecoin market.
Hong Kong is betting on regulated, bank-issued HKD stablecoins to carve out a role in regional trade settlement, but the question remains whether a non-dollar stablecoin can build the necessary network effects to compete.