The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has granted the city’s first stablecoin issuer licences to two institutions, HSBC’s Hong Kong banking arm and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture backed by Standard Chartered, ending a months-long wait that had raised questions about how quickly the city could turn stablecoin regulation from policy to practice.
The HKMA confirmed the approvals on April 10, 2026, with licences under the Stablecoins Ordinance granted to Anchorpoint Financial Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, both taking effect immediately. According to the licensees’ business plans, both institutions intend to complete preparation work and launch operations within the coming months. HSBC has indicated a target of the second half of 2026 for its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin launch.
A milestone that almost missed its own deadline
The road to today’s announcement was longer than expected. Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance took effect on August 1, 2025, requiring issuers of fiat-referenced stablecoins to obtain an HKMA licence and comply with rules on reserve backing, redemption, governance, and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls. HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue had publicly signalled in February that a small number of licences would be issued by March 2026.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po cited the same timeline at the Consensus Hong Kong conference. When March ended without a single approval, analysts began questioning the pace of the city’s digital asset rollout. The HKMA responded on April 1, saying it was “actively taking forward the licensing matter” without providing a new date. That date turned out to be April 10.
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Who are the two licensees?
Anchorpoint Financial was formed in early 2025 as a joint venture between Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT). The consortium has been the most active participant in the HKMA’s stablecoin preparation process, testing use cases within the regulator’s sandbox since 2024, including e-commerce payments, cross-border settlements, and tokenized asset trading.
Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters has framed the initiative as the foundation for a new era of digital trade settlement infrastructure. Mary Huen, Standard Chartered’s CEO for Hong Kong and Greater China, described the goal as becoming “one of the first issuers launching an HKD-backed stablecoin, bringing an innovative medium of exchange securely usable by institutions and individuals.”
HSBC’s path to a licence was more surprising to industry observers. Hong Kong’s largest bank by total assets skipped the HKMA’s stablecoin sandbox entirely, having focused its blockchain work on tokenized deposits. HSBC built its digital asset infrastructure through its Orion platform, facilitating over US$3.5 billion in digitally native bonds, while its Tokenised Deposit Service handles near-instant corporate HKD and USD transfers.
HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery had signalled the bank’s interest in the stablecoin regime, confirming active communications with the HKMA. That behind-the-scenes engagement appears to have been sufficient to secure a place in the inaugural cohort, alongside the more publicly visible Anchorpoint.
What the licence requires
Receiving a stablecoin licence under Hong Kong’s regime is among the most demanding standards in any major financial centre. Issuers must hold paid-up share capital of at least HKD 25 million, though banks as authorised institutions are exempt. A full backing obligation applies at all times, reserves must equal the face value of all stablecoins in circulation, and those reserves may consist only of High Quality Liquid Assets (HQLA).
The framework also mandates T+1 par redemption (full redemption at face value within one business day), client asset segregation, AML and counter-terrorism financing controls, and regular public reserve disclosures. The regime gives the HKMA enforcement powers including fines, suspensions, and licence revocations.
Note-issuing banks at the centre, by design
The HKMA’s decision to lead with note-issuing banks is deliberate and symbolically significant. HSBC and Standard Chartered are two of only three commercial banks authorised to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes, a system dating to 1846, when private banks issued currency backed by silver deposits.
Eddie Yue drew a direct parallel in a 2023 blog post, describing stablecoins as a blockchain-based equivalent of historical private money, designed to hold stable value for payments. By placing note-issuing institutions at the front of the licensing queue, the HKMA signals that institutional credibility, not innovation speed, is its central criterion. Hong Kong received 36 formal applications under the ordinance and is approving only a small initial batch.
Hong Kong enters a global race
Today’s approvals place Hong Kong among the first major financial centres to formally licence stablecoin issuers, entering a competitive field that includes the US advancing the GENIUS Act and the EU operating under MiCA. The global stablecoin market stood at roughly $309 billion at the start of 2026, and Citi projects growth to between $1.9 trillion and $4 trillion by 2030.
Transfer volumes reached approximately $33 trillion in 2025, with more than 232 million users worldwide holding stablecoins. Globally, other major banks are also moving fast: JPMorgan has expanded JPM Coin to public blockchains, Societe Generale launched the EUR CoinVertible, and a US banking consortium including PNC, Citi, and Wells Fargo is exploring a joint stablecoin.
The US and UK also recently announced a cooperation pact to harmonise cross-border stablecoin oversight. Notably absent from Hong Kong’s first batch are Chinese tech players, both Ant Group and JD.com suspended their Hong Kong stablecoin plans last year, while Beijing tightened restrictions on offshore yuan-pegged tokens and mainland-affiliated crypto activity.
What comes next
Both licensees are expected to move into an operational preparation phase before going live. The HKMA maintains a public Register of Licensed Stablecoin Issuers on its website, and has urged the public to use only regulated channels when acquiring or using stablecoins, warning about potential fraudulent activities associated with the new licences.
Eddie Yue said the framework “provides an orderly operating environment for stablecoin issuers to apply innovative technologies while ensuring robust user protection and effective risk management,” and expressed hope that regulated stablecoins will “address pain points in financial and economic activities” for individuals and businesses alike. With two licences now issued, Hong Kong has moved from intent to implementation, and the city’s broader digital asset ambitions, which include further licensing under its ASPIRe roadmap for custody, dealing, and advisory services, are now on firmer ground.
