The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced on Friday that it has granted stablecoin issuer licences under the Stablecoins Ordinance to Anchorpoint Financial and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation for issuing stablecoins in Hong Kong.
Anchorpoint Financial is a joint venture established by Standard Chartered Hong Kong, Animoca Brands, and HKT (6823).
HKMA is “open but cautious” about issuing more licences in the future, Daryl Ho, deputy chief executive at HKMA said at a press briefing, adding the number of additional licences would be “very limited”.
The authority received a total of 36 stablecoin licence applications last year.
In a statement, Anchorpoint said it was going to work with selected businesses to act as distributors to enable public access to its stablecoin.
HSBC’s stablecoin, meanwhile, will be available on the bank’s two mobile apps, namely PayMe and HSBC HK Mobile Banking, the lender said in a separate statement.
The bank plans to offer retail customers and merchants more flexible and secure options via stablecoins, it added.
Such services include peer-to-peer payments, customer-to-merchant payments, and tokenised investments.
HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue Wai-man said that the granting of stablecoin issuer licences is an important milestone for the development of digital assets in Hong Kong
The regulatory regime provides an orderly operating environment for stablecoin issuers to apply innovative technologies while ensuring robust user protection and effective risk management, which will foster the development of a healthy, responsible, and sustainable stablecoin ecosystem, he added.
"We hope their promotion of regulated stablecoins will address pain points in financial and economic activities, create values for both individuals and businesses, and support the healthy development of digital assets in Hong Kong," Yue noted.
Staff reporter and Reuters
