Hong Kong on Friday awarded its first two stablecoin issuing licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture led by Standard Chartered that includes Animoca Brands.
The approvals by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the territory’s central bank, mark the first shipment under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which came into effect in August 2025.
“We look forward to issuers starting business according to their plans, looking for growth opportunities while properly managing risks,” said HKMA Chief Executive Eddy Yu. said in an announcement on Friday.
“We hope that their development of regulated stablecoins will address pain points in financial and economic activity, create value for both individuals and businesses, and support the healthy growth of digital assets in Hong Kong.”
The HKMA reviewed 36 applications and indicated that the initial period would be limited. Finance Secretary Paul Chan said in his February budget address that only a “small number” would be approved, with the regulator prioritizing risk management, reserve quality, and anti-money laundering controls.
The decision to license the city’s note-issuing banks seems deliberate at first. HSBC and Standard Chartered. Only two of the three commercial banks are authorized to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes.a system that dates back to 1846, when private banks began issuing currency backed by silver reserves in the absence of a colonial central bank.
Today, each note-issuing bank deposits US dollars into the government’s exchange fund at a fixed rate of HK$7.80 per dollar and receives certificates of indebtedness in return, in exchange for which it prints banknotes.
U draw the parallel in a. December 2023 blog post.
Pre-1935 banknotes were a form of “private money” issued by commercial banks in exchange for deposited silver, Yu wrote, and stablecoins serve as their blockchain-based equivalent — tokens with stable value that can be traded through on-chain exchanges.
A strict identification system
The licenses come with one of the world’s strictest KYC frameworks for digital money.
Under the HKMA’s AML GuidelinesLicensed stablecoins can only be transferred to wallets whose owners’ identities have been verified. The travel rule applies to transfers above HK$8,000 (~$1,000).
practically, This means HKD stablecoins It will likely embed compliance checks into its smart contracts, restricting transfers to on-chain whitelisted wallets. This makes them structurally different from freely transferable tokens like USDT or USDC.
An HKD CBDC takes a back seat.
The bank-led stablecoin model also reflects the HKMA’s decision to prioritize its central bank’s digital currency for retail use. As a pilot program of 11 groups completed in October Retail case found weak.
CBDCs have historically been a big topic at Hong Kong Fintech Week. Last year it was barely mentioned. Instead, stablecoins were the hot topic.
Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered, said at the time that Hong Kong’s introduction of stablecoins and tokenized deposits could “launch a new era of digital trade settlement”, positioning them as a new medium for cross-border trade.
Whether the market agrees to this remains to be seen.
Stablecoins are a roughly $310 billion asset class, and USD-denominated tokens dominate nearly all of them.
Data from CoinGecko shows that the largest stablecoins by market cap are dollar-denominated, with no euro- or yen-pegged tokens in the top ranks.
Hong Kong is betting that regulated, bank-issued HKD stablecoins, issued by the same institutions, under the same restrictions, could play a role in regional trade settlement on new rails.
The question is whether a non-dollar stablecoin, however tightly regulated, can create the network effects needed to compete.
Update (April 10, 10:15 UTC): Modifies the anchorpoint description from Consortium to Joint Venture.