Hong Kong regulators plan to grant first fiat stablecoin licenses in March, while drafting 2026 laws for virtual asset dealers and custodians. Tokenization and wholesale CBDC pilot also advance.
Hong Kong's FSTB and SFC published consultation conclusions on licensing virtual asset advisory and portfolio management services, following the 'same business, same risks, same rules' principle. Legislative proposals expected in 2026, supported by market feedback.
Hong Kong's HKMA has awarded its first stablecoin issuer licences to HSBC and a Standard Chartered-led consortium. Strict rules require full reserves, $3.19M capital, no interest, and same-day redemption. HSBC plans a HKD stablecoin in H2 2026, boosting the city's digital asset hub ambitions.
Hong Kong’s monetary authority has awarded its first two stablecoin licences to HSBC and a Standard Chartered-led group. HSBC plans to launch a HKD-pegged stablecoin in H2 2026 via its Payme wallet. Strict rules mandate full reserves, $3.19 million minimum capital, one-day redemption, and no interest on holdings.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) jointly announced the completion of the Phase 1 review on promoting distributed ledger technology (DLT) in Hong Kong's fixed income market. The review found that the existing legal and regulatory environment is sufficiently flexible to support tokenized bond issuance, evidenced by three landmark government tokenized bonds and growing corporate issuances from Asian and Middle Eastern entities. The next phase will involve legal amendments covering electronic execution of issuance documents and clarification of concepts such as 'possession' and 'transfer' in the context of tokenized fixed-income products.
