Hong Kong's first licensed stablecoins: what HSBC and Anchorpoint mean for payments

Context

Hong Kong spent the better part of three years building a regulatory perimeter around fiat-referenced stablecoins. The Stablecoins Ordinance was passed in May 2025 and the licensing regime came into effect on 1 August 2025. Under it, anyone who issues a fiat-referenced stablecoin in Hong Kong in the course of business, or who issues one that claims to hold its value against the Hong Kong dollar, needs a licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

For several months the regime existed largely on paper. Market participants knew the rules on reserve assets, redemption and governance, but nobody yet held a licence. That changed on 10 April 2026, when the HKMA announced that it had granted the first two stablecoin issuer licences, both taking effect immediately.

What changed

The two licensees are Anchorpoint Financial Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. The HKMA said both intend to complete their preparation and launch business in the coming few months, and it reminded the public to check its Register of Licensed Stablecoin Issuers to avoid scams that borrow the names of licensed firms.

Anchorpoint is a joint venture set up in February 2025 by Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT and Animoca Brands, with Standard Chartered as its largest shareholder. The three partners had explored stablecoins since early 2023 and joined the HKMA's stablecoin issuer sandbox in 2024. Anchorpoint plans to issue a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin called HKDAP, short for "HKD At Par", with a phased rollout from the second quarter of 2026. Its distribution model is business-to-business-to-consumer: rather than signing up retail users directly, it intends to reach the public through selected authorised distributors, and it has highlighted settlement of tokenised real-world assets and cross-border payment flows as priority use cases.

HSBC plans to launch its own Hong Kong dollar stablecoin in the second half of 2026. The bank says each coin will be fully backed at all times by high-quality liquid assets held in segregated accounts. Its initial use cases are peer-to-peer payments, payments to participating merchants through PayMe, and subscriptions to tokenised investments through the HSBC HK App, subject to regulatory approvals. PayMe already serves more than 3.3 million users, which gives HSBC an unusually large installed base on day one.

Why it matters

It is tempting to read stablecoin news through the lens of crypto markets, but the Hong Kong licences point in a different direction. Both issuers are anchored in regulated banking groups, both plan coins referenced to the Hong Kong dollar, and both emphasise payments and settlement rather than trading.

Three features stand out. First, distribution. HSBC's plan embeds the coin into apps that millions of people already use, while Anchorpoint relies on partners with their own customer bases. In both cases the stablecoin is designed to sit inside familiar channels rather than requiring users to adopt a new wallet culture from scratch.

Second, settlement of tokenised assets. A recurring problem with tokenised bonds and funds has been the "cash leg": a tokenised asset still needs to be paid for, and if payment runs through traditional rails, much of the efficiency is lost. A regulated, fully backed Hong Kong dollar token gives issuers and platforms a credible on-chain settlement asset.

Third, credibility. By licensing a global bank and a bank-led joint venture first, the HKMA has signalled that it expects a measured pace and high standards. HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue described the licences as a milestone and stressed user protection and risk management alongside innovation.

Implications for investors, families and businesses

For businesses, the most practical questions concern treasury and payments. Companies that collect from many small counterparties, or that operate in ecosystems already using digital wallets, may find stablecoin settlement attractive once merchant acceptance grows. Finance teams will need to decide how stablecoin balances are classified, who may hold them, which wallets or custodians are acceptable, and how they are reconciled in accounting systems.

For investors, the opening of tokenised investment subscriptions using stablecoins is worth watching. If tokenised money market funds or bonds can be bought and redeemed with a regulated coin, operating hours, settlement speed and minimum ticket sizes may all change over time. That said, a stablecoin is a payment instrument, not an investment return; its value lies in reliability and redemption at par.

For families and family offices, the immediate impact is modest. The more relevant development is the gradual build-out of regulated digital asset infrastructure in Hong Kong, which may affect how tokenised products are held, reported and passed between generations.

There are also clear limits. Launch timetables are plans, not certainties. Usage will depend on merchant uptake, interoperability between issuers, and how banks treat stablecoin flows for anti-money laundering purposes. Cross-border use cases will depend on rules in other jurisdictions as much as on Hong Kong's.

Questions to consider

• Which of our payment flows (collections, supplier payments, intra-group transfers) could realistically benefit from near-instant, low-cost settlement?
• Do our treasury policies permit holding a stablecoin, and if so, with which issuers, custodians and limits?
• How would stablecoin receipts be recorded, reconciled and audited in our existing systems?
• If we invest in tokenised products, what would change if subscriptions and redemptions settled in a regulated coin?
• How will we verify that any counterparty or product claiming to use a licensed stablecoin is genuine, using the HKMA register?

Closing

The first licences turn Hong Kong's stablecoin framework from a policy statement into a live market. The real test comes over the next twelve months, as HSBC and Anchorpoint move from announcements to everyday use. Businesses that do their homework now, on use cases, controls and accounting, will be better placed to decide calmly whether and when to participate.