Hong Kong Targets March for First Stablecoin Licenses, Few Expected

Key Takeaways

• The HKMA is targeting March for the archetypal licenses, with approvals constricted to a “very tiny number.”

• The regulator’s reappraisal focuses connected usage cases, hazard management, AML controls, and backing assets, Yue said.

• Licensed issuers indispensable comply with Hong Kong rules for cross-border activity, and the HKMA whitethorn research communal designation arrangements later.

Hong Kong’s banking regulator, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), expects to assistance its archetypal batch of stablecoin issuer licenses successful March, with lone a “very tiny number” approved initially, HKMA main Eddie Yue told lawmakers connected Monday.

The determination marks a displacement from consultation and sandbox investigating to a supervised marketplace successful which a constricted acceptable of issuers tin legally run astatine standard nether Hong Kong’s caller stablecoin regime.

Yue said the licensing assessments halfway connected whether an issuer has a defensible usage case, robust operational and fiscal hazard controls, effectual anti-money laundering safeguards, and an due reserve backing model.

The HKMA did not instantly respond to a petition for remark connected however galore applications it has received and however galore licenses it expects to contented successful March.

Hong Kong launched a stablecoin issuer sandbox successful 2024.

The HKMA antecedently named 3 participants:

• JINGDONG Coinlink Technology Hong Kong Limited.

• RD InnoTech Limited.

• A consortium involving Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, Animoca Brands Limited, and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Limited.

In May 2025, Hong Kong’s legislature passed a stablecoin measure establishing a licensing authorities for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers, including requirements tied to reserve assets, redemption, and hazard controls.

The HKMA aboriginal said its stablecoin licensing authorities nether the Stablecoins Ordinance took effect connected Aug. 1, 2025, making issuance of fiat-referenced stablecoins a regulated enactment that requires a license.

A tiny archetypal cohort tin signifier marketplace operation quickly.

If lone a fistful of issuers are licensed, aboriginal integrations whitethorn ore astir those entities, peculiarly wherever banks and regulated outgo partners similar licensed counterparties.

Yue said licensed issuers volition request to travel Hong Kong rules for cross-border transactions, and noted the anticipation of exploring communal designation arrangements with different jurisdictions implicit time.

CCN antecedently reported that Ant International planned to use for a Hong Kong stablecoin issuer licence erstwhile procedures opened, alongside applications successful different jurisdictions.