In a historic move, the Hong Kong government has issued its first two stablecoin licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture led by Standard Chartered that includes Animoca Brands, as announced on Friday. The approvals, made by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), represent the first batch under the Stablecoins Ordinance that took effect in August 2025. According to HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue, "We anticipate the issuers will initiate their operations as planned, exploring growth opportunities while effectively managing risks." Additionally, Yue expressed hopes that the promotion of regulated stablecoins will address existing challenges 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, signaling that the initial round of approvals would be limited. Financial Secretary Paul Chan had stated in his February budget address that only a small number of licenses would be granted, with the regulator prioritizing risk management, reserve quality, and anti-money-laundering controls.
The decision to license note-issuing banks first appears to be a deliberate move. HSBC and Standard Chartered are among the three commercial banks authorized to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes, a system dating back to 1846 when private banks began issuing currency backed by silver deposits.
Today, each note-issuing bank deposits U.S. dollars with the government's Exchange Fund at a fixed rate and receives Certificates of Indebtedness in return, against which it prints banknotes. In a December 2023 blog post, Yue drew a parallel between pre-1935 banknotes issued by commercial banks in exchange for deposited silver, which were a form of "private money," and stablecoins, which function as their blockchain-based equivalent. The licenses are subject to one of the world's strictest Know Your Customer (KYC) frameworks for digital money.
Under the HKMA's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) guidelines, licensed stablecoins can only be transferred to wallets whose owners have undergone identity verification. The travel rule applies to transfers exceeding HK$8,000 (~$1,000).
This means that HKD stablecoins will likely embed compliance checks into their smart contracts, restricting transfers to wallets listed in an on-chain white list, making them structurally different from freely transferable tokens. The bank-led stablecoin model also reflects 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. The market's response to the new stablecoins remains to be seen, as stablecoins are a roughly $310 billion asset class dominated by USD-denominated tokens.