Hong Kong grants stablecoin licences

Hong Kong just put two of the world’s biggest banking names inside its new stablecoin rulebook, instead of leaving digital dollars to offshore crypto firms. On April 10, 2026, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority gave its first stablecoin issuer licences to The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and to Anchorpoint Financial. (hkma.gov.hk) A stablecoin is a digital token that is supposed to hold a fixed price, usually by being backed one-for-one with cash or short-term safe assets. Hong Kong’s new licences cover fiat-referenced stablecoins, which means tokens tied to government money like the Hong Kong dollar. (hkma.gov.hk) Hong Kong did not hand these permits to random startups. One licence went to HSBC’s Hong Kong banking unit, and the other went to Anchorpoint, a joint venture backed by Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong, Hong Kong Telecommunications, and Animoca Brands. (hkma.gov.hk, sc.com) That choice tells you what Hong Kong is trying to do. The Stablecoins Ordinance took effect on August 1, 2025, and the central bank said only a very small number of issuers would get through the first round. (coindesk.com, cointelegraph.com) By the end of September 2025, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had received 36 formal applications for stablecoin licences. Two approvals out of 36 is a filter, not a free-for-all. (fintechnews.hk) The rules are built to make a stablecoin behave less like casino chips and more like stored cash. Hong Kong’s regime requires reserve backing, redemption arrangements, governance controls, and anti-money-laundering checks before a token can circulate under licence. (cointelegraph.com, tradefinanceglobal.com) HSBC appears to be taking the simpler path first: put a Hong Kong dollar token inside channels it already controls. Reporting on April 10 said HSBC plans to roll out its stablecoin in the second half of 2026 through PayMe and its mobile banking app. (msn.com) Anchorpoint is aiming at a different map. Standard Chartered said the venture plans a regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin called HKDAP and wants to use it for cross-border payments and settlement of tokenised assets, which are ordinary financial assets turned into digital tokens. (sc.com, tradefinanceglobal.com) That leaves Hong Kong with two launch models at once. Ledger Insights reported that HSBC is pursuing a bank-led distribution model, while the Standard Chartered-backed group is pursuing a more crypto-native route that reaches into digital-asset markets and tokenised settlement. (ledgerinsights.com) The deeper shift is that Hong Kong is moving tokenised money into the same supervised perimeter as ordinary banking. Bloomberg reported that the licences make HSBC and the Standard Chartered-linked venture the first firms allowed to issue Hong Kong dollar-pegged crypto tokens under the city’s regime. (bloomberg.com) For years, the stablecoin market was dominated by firms built in crypto first and regulated later. Hong Kong is trying the reverse order: start with licensed banks, force the reserves and compliance rules up front, and then let digital money spread outward from there. (hkma.gov.hk, bloomberg.com)