HKMA Grants Hong Kong’s First Stablecoin Licenses to HSBC and a Standard Chartered-Led Joint Venture

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said it has granted the first stablecoin issuer licenses under Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial Limited, according to a regulator announcement published April 10.

The Stablecoins Ordinance establishes a licensing regime requiring reserve backing, AML compliance, and redemption guarantees for Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoin issuers.

Anchorpoint Financial Limited is a joint venture backed by Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) focused on developing a Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoin.

HKMA Selects HSBC and Anchorpoint From 36 Stablecoin License Applicants

The HKMA said on April 10 that the licenses take effect immediately and that both issuers plan to complete preparations and begin business in the coming months. The regulator selected the two from a pool of 36 applications, in line with earlier signals that the first batch would be tightly limited.

”The granting of stablecoin issuer licenses is an important milestone for the development of digital assets in Hong Kong,”

HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue said in a statement.

”The regulatory regime provides an orderly operating environment for stablecoin issuers to apply innovative technologies while ensuring robust user protection and effective risk management.”

The approvals follow a missed earlier guidance from the HKMA, which had indicated licenses could be issued by March, which had passed without any licenses being issued. An HKMA spokesperson had said earlier this month that the authority was ”actively taking forward the licensing matter.”

First Stablecoin Licenses Go to Two Hong Kong Note-Issuing Banks

The choice of HSBC and a Standard Chartered-led venture places two of Hong Kong’s three note-issuing banks at the centre of the new regime. Both banks are already authorised to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes, a system under which selected commercial banks are authorised to issue Hong Kong dollar banknotes alongside the government and tie commercial banks directly into the city’s monetary framework.

Standard Chartered entered the licensing process through Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture with Animoca Brands and HKT that previously participated in the HKMA’s stablecoin issuer sandbox in 2024, according to regulator disclosures. HSBC did not take part in that sandbox, making its inclusion in the first batch a notable addition alongside the Anchorpoint group.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said addresssaid in his February budget address that only ”a small number” of applicants would be approved in the first round, with the regulator prioritising risk management, reserve quality, and anti-money-laundering controls. The decision to issue only two licenses out of 36 applications, both to bank-linked issuers, tracks directly with that framing.

Hong Kong Imposes Verified-Wallet and Reserve Rules on Licensees

The Hong Kong framework carries one of the tighter compliance perimeters applied to any stablecoin regime globally. Under HKMA anti-money-laundering guidelines, HKMA guidance requires licensed stablecoin transfers to be conducted between identity-verified wallets, and the travel rule applies to transfers above HK$8,000 (about $1,000) under Hong Kong’s AML framework.

The framework also requires reserves to be backed exclusively by high-quality liquid assets, T+1 par redemptions, client asset segregation, and public reserve disclosures. Oversight is split between the HKMA, which licenses issuers, and the Securities and Futures Commission, which governs the broader virtual asset market.

Together, those requirements set HKD stablecoins apart from freely transferable tokens such as USDT and USDC, which generally permit transfers between non-custodial wallets without identity verification.

HKMA Emphasises Stablecoins Alongside e-HKD Pilot Work

The bank-led first batch also reflects the HKMA’s signalled cautious approach to a retail central bank digital currency following its e-HKD pilot. An HKMA e-HKD pilot completed last October found the retail case for a central bank digital currency was weak, and the regulator has since shifted attention toward regulated stablecoins and tokenised deposits as the main digital money rails for Hong Kong.

That shift puts Hong Kong’s digital money strategy in the hands of licensed commercial issuers operating under the Stablecoins Ordinance rather than through a central-bank-issued retail token, with HSBC and Anchorpoint now the first two firms inside that perimeter.

Hong Kong Enters a Market Still Dominated by USD Stablecoins

The global stablecoin market sits at roughly $310 billion, with U.S. dollar-pegged tokens accounting for nearly all of it. No euro- or yen-pegged tokens currently appear in the top ranks by market capitalisation.

Hong Kong authorities have indicated that regulated HKD-pegged stablecoins could support regional settlement use cases alongside existing digital-asset infrastructure in regional trade settlement, issued by the same institutions that already underpin the city’s monetary framework.

It remains unclear how quickly HKD-pegged stablecoins will gain adoption relative to U.S. dollar-denominated tokens, which currently dominate global supply.