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The Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656), in force since 1 August 2025, requires HKMA licensing for FRS issuers and mandates reserve, redemption, segregation and governance controls. The HKMA granted the first two FRS issuer licences (HSBC, Anchorpoint Financial) effective 10 April 2026, from a pool of 36 applicants. No systemic-designation framework beyond core licensing has yet been published.
The defining development of this cycle is the HKMA's issuance of the jurisdiction's first two FRS issuer licences, to HSBC and to Anchorpoint Financial — a joint venture led by Standard Chartered together with Animoca Brands and HKT — both effective 10 April 2026. These two licensees were selected from a pool of 36 applicants, with the HKMA's stated approach in this first tranche prioritising note-issuing banks over other categories of applicant. This is treated here as a decision-level fact rather than a binding rule change in itself, but it is the clearest evidence available this cycle that the Cap. 656 licensing regime is now fully operational rather than merely enacted: applications have been processed, a selection methodology has been applied, and licences have issued and taken effect.
One limitation persists alongside this operational maturity: the HKMA has not published any systemic-designation framework for stablecoin issuers that goes beyond the core Cap. 656 licensing regime. Whether or how the HKMA intends to apply enhanced prudential treatment to issuers that become systemically significant — a question increasingly relevant as licensed issuance scales — remains unaddressed in publicly available guidance as of this cycle.
Outlook
With the first licensing tranche complete and effective, the near-term question is the pace and composition of subsequent batches: whether the HKMA continues prioritising note-issuing banks, opens further slots to non-bank applicants from the remaining pool of 36, and on what timeline. The absence of a published systemic-designation framework is also worth monitoring, particularly if licensed stablecoin issuance scales toward volumes that would typically attract enhanced prudential attention in comparable jurisdictions. More broadly, Hong Kong's stablecoin regime is likely to remain a reference point for other jurisdictions assessing FRS licensing design, given its combination of enacted statute, substantive prudential requirements, and now-live licensees — a combination that few peer jurisdictions have yet achieved in full.
Stablecoin Regime
Hong Kong's fiat-referenced stablecoin regime, established under the Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656), commenced on 1 August 2025 and requires any person issuing a fiat-referenced specified stablecoin in or from Hong Kong to hold a licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. That licensing requirement has now produced its first concrete result: on 10 April 2026 the Authority granted the territory's first two stablecoin issuer licences. The recipients are HSBC, one of Hong Kong's incumbent note-issuing banks, and Anchorpoint Financial Limited, a joint venture structured around Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT and Animoca Brands. Both licensees are reported to be targeting product launches in the second half of 2026, which would mark the transition of the regime from an authorisation framework into an operating market.
The significance of this development lies less in the fact of licensing itself than in what the choice of licensees reveals about how the regime is being applied in practice. Granting the first licence to a major international bank alongside a consortium that combines banking, telecommunications and Web3-venture capacity shows the Authority is prepared to license issuers built on markedly different institutional models, provided each satisfies the same prudential and governance standard. This is consistent with a regime designed to be structurally open to multiple issuer archetypes rather than narrowly reserved for incumbent deposit-takers, while still gatekeeping through substantial capital and operational requirements that favour well-resourced entrants over early-stage fintech ventures.
A parallel regulatory development touches the stablecoin regime's interaction with the pre-existing virtual-asset trading-platform rulebook. A Securities and Futures Commission circular has clarified that it would not be necessary to apply certain liquidity and index requirements under the Virtual Asset Trading Platform Guidelines and the Joint Circular to relevant stablecoins. This is a calibration exercise: rather than treating licensed stablecoins as simply another token subject to the full trading-platform rulebook, the regulator is adjusting specific requirements that were designed with more volatile, index-tracked digital assets in mind, recognising that a fiat-referenced, HKMA-licensed stablecoin sits on a different risk profile. This reconciliation work is itself a sign that the stablecoin and trading-platform regimes, though created under separate statutory tracks, are being actively managed as parts of a single coherent digital-asset supervisory architecture rather than left to develop independently.
Taken as a whole, the picture this period is one of a regime moving from paper authority to operating reality. The licensing stage is complete for the first two entrants; the commercial stage — actual stablecoin issuance, redemption mechanics, and market uptake — has not yet begun but is anticipated within months. No new amendment to the Stablecoins Ordinance itself, and no additional licence grant, is recorded this period; the substantive development is the confirmation that two licensees now hold authorisation and are moving toward launch, together with the trading-platform rule calibration that anticipates their arrival on the market.
Outlook
The principal marker to watch is whether either or both licensees meet the stated second-half-2026 launch target. A launch would generate the regime's first live data points on reserve management, redemption performance and market reception, all of which will shape whether additional issuer applicants are drawn to seek licensure under the same framework. The trading-platform rule calibration already underway at the Securities and Futures Commission suggests regulators are preparing the surrounding market infrastructure in anticipation of that launch, rather than waiting for a product to appear before adjusting the rulebook. Any slippage in the launch timeline, given that both issuers have already cleared prudential licensing, would itself be a signal worth tracking as an indicator of operational or market readiness rather than regulatory delay.
1 earlier distinct update(s)
Stablecoin Regime
The Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap.656), in force since 1 August 2025, requires an HKMA licence for issuing a fiat-referenced stablecoin in or from Hong Kong. That statutory framework has now produced its first commercial outcomes: the HKMA received applications from a total of 36 entities in its first batch, filed by 30 September 2025, and on 10 April 2026 granted the first two stablecoin issuer licences, to Anchorpoint Financial Limited (FRS01) and HSBC (FRS02).
Following those grants, the Securities and Futures Commission issued circular 26EC26, which sets conduct standards for how the market treats licensed stablecoins. Under the circular, a 'Relevant Stablecoin' is defined by a licence-based classification test: it is a specified stablecoin issued by an entity licensed and authorised under the Ordinance, rather than being defined by any technical feature of the token. Virtual-asset trading platforms and licensed corporations are required to notify, rather than seek prior written approval from, the SFC before admitting, suspending or removing a Relevant Stablecoin for client trading. This gives the regime a two-layer structure: HKMA licensing at the issuance level, and SFC notification-based oversight at the trading-platform level, operating together rather than as separate silos.
Outlook
The regime's near-term trajectory depends on how quickly the HKMA processes the remainder of its 36-entity first application batch beyond Anchorpoint and HSBC, and whether the SFC's notification mechanism is tested at scale as additional Relevant Stablecoins are admitted to trading platforms.
Sources and findings (5)
- T3 · U.S. SEC EDGAR / Solowin HoldingsStablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656) — A HKMA licence for any entity issuing or promoting fiat-referenced stablecoins (FRS) to retail or professional users; took effect 1 August 2025.retrieved M5bindingin force
- T3 · U.S. SEC EDGAR / Solowin HoldingsStablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656) — Full reserve backing in liquid assets, regular auditing, robust governance/risk-management, and strict AML/CFT controls for licensed FRS issuers.retrieved M5bindingin force
- T4 · The BlockStablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656) regime — Reserve asset management, redemption mechanisms and client-asset segregation, plus robust systems to stabilize token value.retrieved M4bindingin force
- T4 · The BlockHKMA stablecoin issuer licensing — First two FRS issuer licences — HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial (Standard Chartered-led JV with Animoca Brands and HKT) — effective 10 April 2026, from a pool of 36 applicants, prioritizing note-issuing banks.retrieved M4non-bindingnew
- T3 · CoinDeskHKMA stablecoin systemic-designation framework — A systemic-designation framework for stablecoin issuers beyond the core Stablecoins Ordinance licensing regime.retrieved M2non-binding