香港颁发首张稳定币牌照：传统金融首先获得钥匙，而 Web3 仍处于外部吴区块链2026年4月10日，香港稳定币制度进入运行阶段。香港金融管理局 (HKMA) 宣布，根据《稳定币条例》，已向汇丰银行和渣打银行、Animoca Brands 和 HKT 组建的合资企业 Anchorpoint 授予稳定币发行人牌照。这些牌照立即生效。金管局补充说，两家持牌机构将在完成必要的准备工作后于未来几个月内开始运营。消息公布后，相关港股纷纷走高，国泰君安国际涨幅高达27.69%，稳定币相关概念股云锋金融涨幅8.74%。金管局随后更新了持牌稳定币发行人名册，披露了两家持牌人的基本信息：下一轮牌照可能去向谁将获得下一轮牌照是市场最大的疑问。然而，从监管机构的角度来看，目前的立场更接近于“没有时间表、没有名字”。香港尚未披露完整名单
如果说这36名申请人或个别申请被拒绝的原因，那么推断这两名申请人为何被选中的唯一方法是从金管局规定的筛选标准进行倒推。根据香港电台引用的金管局技术简报的信息，金管局总裁余伟文表示，未来牌照数量的任何扩大都将遵循“开放但谨慎”的方针，现阶段没有明确的方向。即使稍后再批出额外牌照，预计整体数量仍然非常有限。金管局副总裁陈达里进一步解释，发牌决定是对所有申请进行整体比较的结果，而选定的机构恰好都有银行背景。据ind进一步报道
Hong Kong Grants Its First Stablecoin Licenses: Traditional Finance Gets the Keys First, While Web3 Remains Outside
Author | WuBlockchain
On April 10, 2026, Hong Kong’s stablecoin regime entered its operational phase. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced that, under the Stablecoins Ordinance, it had granted stablecoin issuer licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint, a joint venture formed by Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and HKT. The licenses took effect immediately.
The HKMA added that both licensees will begin operations in the coming months after completing the necessary preparations. Following the announcement, related Hong Kong-listed stocks moved higher, with Guotai Junan International rising as much as 27.69% and Yunfeng Financial, a stablecoin-related concept stock, gaining 8.74%.
The HKMA subsequently updated its Register of Licensed Stablecoin Issuers, disclosing the basic information of the two licensees:
Where the Next Round of Licenses May Go
Who will receive the next round of licenses is the market’s biggest question. From the regulator’s perspective, however, the current stance is closer to “no timetable and no names.” Hong Kong has not disclosed the full list of the 36 applicants or the reasons individual applications were rejected, so the only way to infer why these two were selected is by working backward from HKMA’s stated screening criteria.
According to information from an HKMA technical briefing cited by RTHK, HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said that any future expansion in the number of licenses would follow an “open but cautious” approach, with no clear direction at this stage. Even if additional licenses are granted later, the overall number is expected to remain very limited.
HKMA Deputy Chief Executive Darryl Chan further explained that the licensing decision was the result of a holistic comparison of all applications, and that it so happened both selected institutions had banking backgrounds. According to further reports relayed by industry media, Chan also stressed that there is currently no timetable for issuing additional licenses. The timing will depend on factors such as implementation outcomes, market acceptance, and international trends, and the HKMA will not disclose the names of potential applicants.
At the early stage of the regime’s implementation, the HKMA made this position explicit in its July 2025 package of implementation documents. It stated that licensing would be an ongoing process, but that institutions wishing to be considered as early as possible should submit their applications by September 30, 2025. At the same time, the HKMA warned market participants to exercise caution in their public communications and avoid creating unrealistic expectations. It also noted that, under the Stablecoins Ordinance, falsely claiming to be a licensee or an applicant is a criminal offense. This also explains why it is difficult to obtain official confirmation in advance regarding any “next-round list.”
The most important names to watch in the next round are still the remaining participants in HKMA’s stablecoin issuer sandbox. In July 2024, the HKMA announced the first batch of sandbox participants, including JD Coinlink Technology (Hong Kong) and RD InnoTech.
But the HKMA was also very clear at the time: the sandbox is only a limited-scope testing mechanism. Its purpose is to allow institutions to test processes and align with regulatory expectations under controlled risk conditions. In the initial stage, participants are not allowed to handle public funds, sell products to the public, or solicit public capital. In other words, entering the sandbox is more like taking a mock exam before the real test. It does not mean a license has already been secured, let alone that stablecoin can be formally issued.
Intent Is Not a License
Beyond the sandbox participants, some large corporations have also publicly signaled interest. Media previously reported that after the Stablecoins Ordinance Bill was passed in 2025, Ant International said it would move quickly to submit an application once the application window opened, and hoped to use stablecoins in real business scenarios such as cross-border payments and treasury management.
But the gap between signaling interest and actually securing a license has clearly poured cold water on the market’s long-building expectations. Many had hoped this would mark the beginning of Crypto’s compliant integration into Hong Kong’s financial system. So far, however, the change appears more symbolic than structural. Native Crypto projects and major technology firms are still being treated as outsiders, while the Hong Kong authorities continue to bind their vision of innovation tightly to institutional caution. On the surface, Hong Kong appears to be opening the door to new Web3 forces. In practice, however, control over stablecoin issuance remains firmly in the hands of traditional financial institutions, especially the incumbent note-issuing banks.
From expressed interest to an actual license, there is obviously still a long road ahead. That reality has also tempered the market’s optimism. Many observers had expected this to be the starting point for Crypto’s move toward compliance and mainstream adoption in Hong Kong. For now, however, the reform has yet to break meaningfully from the existing order.
The institutions that obtained the first real entry tickets are still those with the deepest traditional financial roots and the highest degree of regulatory trust. On the surface, Hong Kong opened the door to Web3. But when it comes to the core power of issuance, control remains firmly in traditional finance’s hands. Put more plainly, Hong Kong welcomes innovation to enter the arena, but this time it is not prepared to place the key to stablecoin issuance in the hands of native Crypto projects or major technology companies.
Standard Chartered’s HKDAP Issuance Roadmap
Anchorpoint’s shareholder structure already makes clear that it is not a typical stablecoin company. Behind it stands Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, HKT, and Animoca Brands, representing three distinct capabilities: banking compliance, payment distribution, and the Web3 ecosystem. In effect, this means the stablecoin is connected from day one to a “bank vault,” a “payments gateway,” and an “on-chain application network.” It combines the licensing, risk control, and governance capabilities most valued by traditional finance with the user reach and real-world application scenarios that are often hardest for Web3 projects to secure. In other words, its commercial architecture was built from the outset around a clear division of labor: who handles compliance, who handles distribution, and who drives adoption.
In its latest press release issued on April 10, 2026, the day the license was granted, Standard Chartered disclosed Anchorpoint’s product plan and strategy in greater detail. Anchorpoint plans to begin issuing its regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, HKDAP (HKD At Par), in phases starting in the second quarter of 2026. It will adopt a B2B2C model, giving the public access through selected authorized distributors, while also providing incentives to early ecosystem partners.
According to the HKMA’s licensing summary, non-authorized institution applicants must be companies incorporated in Hong Kong, or must establish a local subsidiary in Hong Kong to serve as the applicant entity. Applicants must also satisfy financial resource requirements. One hard threshold is paid-up share capital of no less than HK$25 million, or an equivalent amount in a freely convertible currency, or other financial resources recognized by the HKMA. For each type of stablecoin to be issued, the issuer must maintain a separate and segregated reserve asset pool and enter into written custodial arrangements with a qualified custodian. The market value of the reserve assets must at all times be no less than the par value of the circulating stablecoins, and appropriate over-collateralization should be considered as a buffer. The issuer must also establish effective trust arrangements to segregate reserve assets and protect holders’ rights and interests.
As one of Hong Kong’s note-issuing banks, Standard Chartered provides a strong compliance foundation for the project. It helps ensure end-to-end alignment across reserve assets, custody, trust arrangements, assurance and audit, and redemption procedures, while also supporting the screening, onboarding, and integration of the authorized distribution network. This is directly tied to the HKMA’s baseline requirements on reserve segregation, custodial arrangements, trust structures, and next-business-day redemption.
More importantly, Anchorpoint has not positioned the stablecoin as merely a trading instrument. Instead, it is clearly targeting two use cases with more immediate real-world demand. One is the settlement and distribution of tokenized real-world assets, or RWAs. In practical terms, if bonds, funds, or other real-world assets move on-chain in the future, HKDAP aims to serve as the currency used for clearing and settlement within that system.
The other use case is closer to something ordinary users can readily understand: making cross-border transfers, settlement, and payments less dependent on the multiple intermediary layers and long processing times typical of traditional bank remittances. In other words, Anchorpoint is not trying to launch just another tradable Hong Kong dollar token. It is trying to become a foundational payment instrument within Hong Kong’s regulated on-chain financial system.
Additional Perspectives
Under Hong Kong’s current monetary framework, there are three note-issuing banks: HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited. When the history of note issuance is placed alongside stablecoin licensing, a clear pattern emerges: the first batch of licenses went to the two strongest lines of credit backing. HSBC is itself one of Hong Kong’s note-issuing banks, while Anchorpoint is led and majority-owned by Standard Chartered, which is also one of the city’s note-issuing banks.
Under this structure, Hong Kong has not chosen the path of letting crypto-native institutions move first and regulators catch up later. Instead, it has folded stablecoin into the broader upgrade of traditional financial infrastructure. On the one hand, it is using a high-entry-threshold approach to screen first and expand later. On the other, through explicit requirements on reserves, custody, trust arrangements, and redemption, it is transforming stablecoins from a “technology product” into an auditable payment and settlement instrument.
Liu Honglin, founder of KUN Law Firm, believes that while the market is currently most focused on who received the first batch of licenses, the more important question is who Hong Kong stablecoins are actually for. Licensing determines who is allowed to issue. What will truly determine success, however, is who is willing to use them, where they are used, and whether they can generate network effects.
In the past, the market often imagined Hong Kong stablecoins as tools that could serve the cross-border needs of mainland Chinese companies, the asset-allocation needs of mainland residents, or even some form of policy buffer. But given that mainland China has already established clear regulatory positions on virtual currencies and stablecoins, that demand chain is not especially solid. Hong Kong compliance does not mean such products can naturally flow into the mainland market.
The same is true overseas. Users will not automatically adopt a stablecoin simply because it has obtained a Hong Kong license. Stablecoin competition is closer to competition among payment networks: the deeper the liquidity, the broader the integration with exchanges, wallets, merchants, and protocols, and the lower the user friction, the more likely it is to become the default choice. For late entrants, the hardest part is not issuing the coin, but getting users to change their existing habits.
HSBC and Anchorpoint May Not Be Head-to-Head Competitors
For that reason, the first batch of licensees may not end up competing head-on on the same track. HSBC has already made clear that its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin will launch in the second half of 2026 and will be directly integrated into PayMe and the HSBC HK App. Its initial use cases will focus on everyday payments for retail customers and merchants, including P2P, P2M, and tokenized investments within the app. PayMe already has more than 3.3 million users, which means HSBC begins with an existing retail payments gateway already in place.
By contrast, Anchorpoint is placing greater emphasis on B2B2C distribution, authorized distributors, and incentives for early ecosystem partners, suggesting a strategy that is more focused on first building out institutional settlement and cross-border capital flow networks. In other words, Hong Kong’s first stablecoins may not compete head-on in retail payments from the outset. They are more likely to divide the market by channel and use case: one entering through consumer wallets, the other through institutional settlement and cross-border flows.
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited has explicitly stated that its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin will be integrated into PayMe and the HSBC HK mobile banking app, with initial use cases centered on everyday transactions for retail customers and merchants, including P2P and P2M payments, as well as in-app tokenized investments.
The Real Challenge for Hong Kong Dollar Stablecoins: Why Would Users Abandon Existing Payment Habits?
From the perspective of “who these products are for,” this suggests that native on-chain users are not the primary target users of the first batch of stablecoin products. Instead, the goal is to embed stablecoins into existing mainstream payment channels and use distribution to overcome the cold-start problem.
That means if stablecoins are to achieve meaningful new adoption on the local retail side, they must answer a more practical question: what new capability do they offer compared with FPS, bank cards, and e-wallets? For example, can they enable more convenient programmable payments, support instant settlement with on-chain assets, or materially reduce costs within specific merchant networks? Otherwise, even with a license in hand, it will still be difficult to change payment habits that users have already formed.
This is also why the market structure is unlikely to be rewritten in the short term. According to DeFiLlama data, the total global stablecoin market capitalization currently stands at around $318 billion, of which USDT accounts for about 58% and USDC about 24%.
Why Compliance Alone May Not Be Enough
The high concentration of the stablecoin market means that even if a compliant Hong Kong dollar stablecoin emerges in Hong Kong, it will still struggle to shift default user entry points unless it can achieve sufficient density of integration across exchanges, market makers, wallets, payment rails, and settlement networks.
This point is also supported by research from the U.S. Federal Reserve. A research brief published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on April 10, 2026, noted that stablecoin usage can generally be divided into four categories: trading assets, payments, transfers, and idle balances. Of these, the share used for actual payments may be only around 0.7%, or less than 1%. A much larger portion still circulates within exchanges, DeFi, and infrastructure. In other words, the main battlefield for stablecoins today is still not everyday consumer payments, but crypto finance itself.
As a result, if a new Hong Kong dollar stablecoin enters the market simply as a “compliant payment instrument,” it will not be easy to scale quickly. That is because it is not entering a blank market, but a mature network in which user habits, liquidity, and channel access points have already largely solidified.
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