The first round of competition in Hong Kong dollar stablecoins is underway, but the fight over user access is still unsettled.
On Aug. 12, Anchorpoint Financial, led by Standard Chartered, launched the institutional phase of HKDAP issuance. HashKey Exchange and OSL Group were named as the first distributors, and HashKey also completed the first HKDAP mint and redemption transaction. HSBC, which received its license on the same day as Anchorpoint four months earlier, has taken the opposite route by plugging its stablecoin offering into PayMe and the HSBC HK App, with plans to reach its existing retail user base in the second half of the year.
What HKDAP is and how it is being issued
HKDAP, short for "HKD At Par," is pegged 1:1 to the Hong Kong dollar. It is positioned as a payment and settlement tool rather than an investment product. It does not pay interest and is designed for payments, cross-border fund transfers, and settlement of tokenized financial instruments.
All HKDAP in circulation must be backed by 100% reserves in high-quality, highly liquid assets. Those reserve assets are held in segregated trust accounts, with Standard Chartered Trust (Hong Kong) acting as trustee.
For distribution, Anchorpoint is using a B2B2C model, relying on authorized distributors and scenario-based partners to reach end users. According to the official release, that distributor pool is not limited to crypto exchanges. It also covers banks, brokers, payment and card networks, trade finance platforms, acquirers, asset managers, custodians, digital wallets, and licensed overseas service providers.
That means HashKey and OSL are the first publicly announced authorized distributors for now, while banks themselves could also become HKDAP distribution channels later on.
In the release, Gaurav Bagga, chairman of Anchorpoint Financial and chief financial officer for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered, said HKDAP is not only aimed at Hong Kong. He said the project also hopes to extend its service reach to the Global South and lay groundwork for the next phase of the digital asset ecosystem.
Same license, opposite distribution strategies
On April 10 this year, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, or HKMA, approved only two licenses out of 36 applications. The two winners were Anchorpoint Financial, led by Standard Chartered, and HSBC.
They received the same regulatory approval, but the distribution logic is sharply different. HSBC is embedding stablecoin functions into PayMe and the HSBC HK App, targeting person-to-person transfers, payments from individuals to merchants, and tokenized investment. The model leans on channels it already controls and on an active user base it already has.
Anchorpoint, by contrast, is putting HKDAP into an open distributor network. Its target use cases are cross-border settlement, institutional payments, and on-chain delivery for real-world assets, or RWA. Instead of relying on its own retail channel, it is seeking broader coverage through partners.
One approach prioritizes speed and control. The other prioritizes reach and ecosystem depth. Which route becomes the default for ordinary users, whether through a bank’s own app or through an authorized third-party channel, is still an open question. The same applies to future demand for cross-border settlement and asset allocation.
As for when retail users may get access to HKDAP, the official line is "as early as the end of 2026, subject to market conditions." That leaves plenty of room for adjustment and ties the retail timetable to how the institutional phase develops.
BlockSec flags contract design concerns
On Aug. 14, blockchain security firm BlockSec reviewed HKDAP’s contracts on the Ethereum mainnet and offered a blunt conclusion: even under Beta Access, the contract set has not yet reached the quality standard expected of a commercial stablecoin.
BlockSec said HKDAP’s KYC revocation logic contains flaws and that the KYC proof is not actually verified on-chain. On governance, it said some high-risk actions, including minting, burning, freezing, and pausing, can in part be executed by a single key, while the governance engine itself has no timelock.
The firm also said one address simultaneously handles issuance, freezing, KYC management, and several audit roles, creating overlap between execution and audit responsibilities.
At the same time, BlockSec limited its review to publicly deployed code and facts observable on-chain. It did not make judgments about whether reserves are sufficient or how private keys are stored. The review also did not say HKDAP had already suffered losses, been attacked, or developed reserve issues.
Still, HKDAP is already live on Ethereum mainnet, and the code directly governs issuance, transfers, and freezes. BlockSec also compared the on-chain design with HKMA’s Guideline on Supervision of Stablecoin Issuers, looking at requirements tied to high-risk operations, separation of duties, and code audits, and said several design choices diverge from those expectations.
A new variable beyond license competition
With the institutional phase now live, Hong Kong dollar stablecoin competition is no longer just about licenses and distribution channels. Building out a distributor network is one challenge. Proving that the smart-contract layer can stand up to ongoing security and compliance scrutiny is another.
Standard Chartered wants HKDAP to become cross-border settlement infrastructure linking the Global South. HSBC wants stablecoins to become a built-in function inside mobile banking. Neither ambition has been realized yet. Retail access is still closed, and the next stretch will turn on who can scale distribution first, whose product is closer to real demand, and whose underlying system can prove reliable enough under pressure.
