In a landmark decision, Hong Kong has issued its inaugural stablecoin licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture led by Standard Chartered that includes Animoca Brands, as announced on Friday. This move follows the implementation of the Stablecoins Ordinance in August 2025. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), acting as the territory's central bank, has approved these licenses, which signify the first batch under the new ordinance. Eddie Yue, the chief executive of the HKMA, expressed his expectations for the issuers to launch their businesses according to plan, focusing on exploring growth opportunities while effectively managing risks.
He further emphasized the potential of regulated stablecoins to address existing 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 and had previously indicated that the initial round of approvals would be limited. Financial Secretary Paul Chan had mentioned 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, given that HSBC and Standard Chartered are two of the three commercial banks authorized to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes, a system dating back to 1846.
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 parallels between pre-1935 banknotes issued by commercial banks in exchange for deposited silver, which functioned as a form of private money, and stablecoins, which serve as their blockchain-based equivalent.
The licenses come with one of the world's strictest Know Your Customer (KYC) frameworks for digital money, requiring licensed stablecoins to be transferred only to wallets whose owners have been identity-verified, with the travel rule applying to transfers above HK$8,000. This implies 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. Instead, stablecoins have become a key focus, with Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters suggesting that Hong Kong's push into stablecoins and tokenized deposits could lay the foundation for a new era of digital trade settlement.
The market's response remains to be seen, given that stablecoins are a roughly $310 billion asset class dominated by USD-denominated tokens. 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.