In a landmark move, Hong Kong has issued its first stablecoin licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture led by Standard Chartered and including Animoca Brands, as announced on Friday. This approval, made by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the territory's central bank, signifies the inaugural batch of licenses under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which was implemented in August 2025. According to HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue, "We look forward to the issuers launching their businesses as planned, exploring growth opportunities while properly managing risks." Additionally, Yue expressed his 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.
Following the assessment of 36 applications, the HKMA has made a deliberate decision to initially license the city's note-issuing banks, with HSBC and Standard Chartered being two of the three commercial banks authorized to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes, a system dating back to 1846. The decision reflects a system where 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.
Yue previously drew parallels between pre-1935 banknotes issued by commercial banks in exchange for deposited silver, referring to them as a form of "private money," and stablecoins as their blockchain-based equivalent. The licenses are accompanied by one of the world's strictest Know Your Customer (KYC) frameworks for digital money, requiring licensed stablecoins to only be transferred 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 incorporate compliance checks into their smart contracts, restricting transfers to wallets listed in an on-chain white list, making them distinct 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 focal point, 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.