36 into 2! Hong Kong’s first stablecoin licenses unveiled, HSBC and Standard Chartered joint venture successfully approved

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At 5:00 PM on April 10, 2026, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority officially announced the list of the first batch of stablecoin issuers with licenses. This regulatory exam, which lasted more than half a year, finally reached the announcement moment. Since the Stablecoin Ordinance took effect on August 1, 2025, a total of 36 applications flooded in before the September 30 deadline of the same year, with the review process spanning the entire winter. The final result: only 2 licenses were issued in the first batch, with an approval rate of about 5%.

In this first major test, regarded as a contest for the Asian Web3 payment hub, the first companies to receive entry tickets were HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial Limited (a joint venture formed by Standard Chartered Bank, Hong Kong Telecom, and Animoca Brands). In the initial phase, both institutions plan to issue Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoins, focusing on cross-border payments, local payments, and tokenized asset settlement, as well as exploring programmable payments and supply chain financing scenarios.

Who boarded the first ship

HSBC HSBC is one of Hong Kong’s three note-issuing banks, and each Hong Kong dollar note is backed by HSBC’s balance sheet. This identity gives it a natural credit foundation in the stablecoin track that other applicants cannot replicate. In May 2025, HSBC was the first to launch blockchain settlement services in Hong Kong, officially deploying tokenized deposit infrastructure, completing basic validation of deposit tokenization and inter-institutional on-chain transfers. This stablecoin license is a step for HSBC to migrate overall off-chain credit onto the blockchain.

Standard Chartered Bank (Anchorpoint Financial Limited) Standard Chartered took a different route. In February 2025, Standard Chartered Hong Kong partnered with Web3 gaming giant Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Telecom to form a joint venture, which underwent three name changes and finally debuted as Anchorpoint Financial Limited on August 8, 2025. The name itself is like a metaphor: an anchor point, the nail linking traditional finance with the on-chain world. Anchorpoint plans to issue a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDG, covering retail payment scenarios for 2.7 million users, cross-border trade settlement, and DeFi applications. It is the only one among the three major note-issuing banks to apply as an independent joint venture entity and explicitly introduce native Web3 partners.

Global regulatory race and Hong Kong’s “slow and steady” approach

In the global race to regulate stablecoins, Hong Kong sounded the starting gun long after others had already gained a lead:

December 2024, the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) fully took effect, becoming the world’s first comprehensive legislative framework covering stablecoins.

June 2025, the U.S. Senate passed a procedural vote on the GENUIS Act, officially bringing stablecoin legislation onto the congressional agenda, aiming to digest national debt demand through dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Faced with pressure from Europe and the U.S., Hong Kong has demonstrated a “slow and steady” resolve. Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority Chief Executive Eddie Yue once stated in February 2026: “The number of licenses issued initially will not be many, aiming for prudence.”

The ecosystem behind 36 applications

The 36 applications received by the HKMA come from six types of institutions: banks, tech giants, payment platforms, securities and asset management firms, e-commerce companies, and Web3-native startups. Stablecoins are no longer just internal entertainment for the crypto community but are now being targeted as new infrastructure by traditional finance, consumer internet, and cross-border trade.

Previously, three institutions had entered the HKMA’s “sandbox” testing before the application window opened: JD Chain Technology (Hong Kong), Yuan Coin Innovation Technology, and a consortium formed by Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecom. Among tech companies, JD was the most aggressive, planning to issue fiat-backed stablecoins pegged 1:1 to HKD or USD; Ant Group was advancing on two fronts with Ant International and Ant Digital Technology; Xiaomi, Yuan Coin Innovation Technology, and East Asia Bank were also among the applicants.

However, this cross-sector carnival ultimately saw the Web3 newcomers and tech giants all fail to secure licenses, with the issuance rights firmly held by traditional note-issuing banks. The HKMA responded that licensing has high thresholds, mainly considering two aspects:

Whether the applicant has sufficient risk management capabilities and experience, and complies with relevant regulations;

Whether the applicant can propose specific application scenarios, feasible business plans, and development strategies.

What does this license regulate

Hong Kong has established a meticulous system for stablecoin issuers:

100% Reserve: Each circulating stablecoin must be backed by assets of equivalent value (cash, bank deposits within 3 months, government or central bank bonds within 1 year, or overnight reverse repurchase agreements collateralized by bonds). Mixing with crypto assets or using for arbitrage is prohibited. The reserves for HKD stablecoins can only be in HKD assets.

Independent Custody: Reserve assets must be held by licensed banks or independent custodians approved by the HKMA, strictly segregated from the issuer’s own assets.

Rigid Redemption: Redemption is a statutory right. It cannot be refused, nor can strict conditions or unreasonable fees be imposed. Processing must be completed within one business day.

High-frequency Disclosure: Daily reports must be prepared and submitted to the HKMA weekly; monthly reports must be audited by an independent auditor and disclosed to the public within one month after the period ends.

Interest prohibition: Licensees are not allowed to pay any interest to token holders. The income from reserve assets belongs entirely to the issuer, sealing off the path for stablecoin financialization and strictly positioning it as a payment tool.

Market reaction and post-licensing

Following this announcement, Hong Kong stocks surged at the close on April 10. Cathay Securities International rose 27.69%, Yunfeng Financial increased 8.39%, and Shenwan Hongyuan Hong Kong gained over 18%. The market logic is based on “benefits from the surrounding ecosystem”: after establishing a stablecoin ecosystem, brokerages can undertake digital asset custody, RWA secondary market making, and on-chain clearing intermediary services.

Hong Kong’s first stablecoin licenses demonstrate a rigorous pursuit of security. The HKD 25 million paid-in capital is just a threshold; the real screening focuses on full reserves of high-quality liquid assets, mandatory independent custody, and real-time audits. Hong Kong is trying to create a “world’s first comprehensive legal currency stablecoin license system” to lay a compliant and trustworthy foundation for future RWA asset tokenization and cross-border trade settlement.