Hong Kong issues first bank‑led stablecoin licences

Hong Kong just handed its first stablecoin licences to two names most people know as old-line banks, not crypto startups: HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a venture led by Standard Chartered with Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Telecommunications. The licences were granted by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on April 10, 2026. (hkma.gov.hk) (scmp.com) A stablecoin is digital cash that tries to hold a fixed price against a normal currency, so 1 coin is meant to equal 1 Hong Kong dollar the way a casino chip is meant to equal a set amount at the cashier. Hong Kong only allows this business with a licence now, and that rule has been in force since August 1, 2025. (hkma.gov.hk) (info.gov.hk) The regulator spent more than four years building this system before approving anyone. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority opened the discussion in January 2022, published its conclusions in January 2023, consulted on the law in December 2023, and published final legislative conclusions in July 2024. (hkma.gov.hk) The rulebook is narrow on purpose: it covers fiat-referenced stablecoins, which means tokens tied to government money rather than to gold, shares, or an algorithm. Hong Kong’s message is that if digital cash is going to circulate at scale, it will sit inside bank-style supervision with anti-money-laundering checks and ongoing oversight. (hkma.gov.hk) (info.gov.hk) HSBC says its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin will launch in the second half of 2026 and plug directly into PayMe and the HSBC Hong Kong mobile banking app. In the first phase, customers will be able to send money to friends, pay merchants, and subscribe to tokenised investments with it. (about.hsbc.com.hk) That distribution matters because PayMe already has more than 3.3 million users in Hong Kong. HSBC is not starting with a blank app and hoping people show up; it is dropping the product into services that already have daily payment traffic. (about.hsbc.com.hk) Anchorpoint is taking the opposite route. Standard Chartered’s group said in 2025 that the venture would combine the bank’s infrastructure, Animoca Brands’ crypto network, and Hong Kong Telecommunications’ wallet expertise, and its initial rollout is aimed at institutions before retail users. (sc.com) (scmp.com) Anchorpoint’s product is expected to be called Hong Kong Dollar At Par, or HKDAP, and South China Morning Post reported that the venture is targeting a second-quarter start. Its pitch is less about shopping apps and more about cutting transaction costs and allowing settlement around the clock for institutional flows. (scmp.com) The regulator was selective. South China Morning Post reported that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority reviewed 36 applications and decided to issue only a small number of licences after a longer-than-expected process focused on risk management, know-your-customer controls, and operations. (scmp.com) That makes this look less like a crypto free-for-all and more like a new payments rail owned by incumbents. Hong Kong is still inviting digital-asset business, but the first winners are the firms that already know how to run reserves, pass audits, and survive bank regulation. (hkma.gov.hk) (scmp.com)