Hong Kong stablecoin adoption trails far behind after four months of licensing
Hong Kong’s two top financial regulators have laid out competing timelines for putting core market infrastructure on-chain, but early results show implementation lagging far behind the ambition. Four months after the city issued its first stablecoin licenses, circulation of the sole live token sits at just 522,000 units, underscoring the gap between regulatory design and market uptake.
- HKMA plans to make its CMU settlement platform run round-the-clock, on-chain, by the end of 2026.
- SFC’s Five-Year Plan strategy splits measures into short-term and medium-to-long-term batches for market integration.
- HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial received Hong Kong’s first two stablecoin issuer licenses in April 2026.
- 522,000 HKDAP tokens in circulation as of August 19, four months after launch
- 2 stablecoin issuer licenses HKMA has granted since April 2026
- Early next year target for HKEX’s yuan-denominated gold futures launch
Hong Kong’s two primary financial regulators unveiled parallel plans to push core market functions on-chain and build new licensing rules for digital assets, according to a report by Cryptopolitan. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is upgrading its main settlement platform to run continuously on blockchain, while the Securities and Futures Commission drafts new licensing rules for tokenized assets. Both moves arrive five months after the city issued its first stablecoin licenses in April 2026, exposing how far implementation still trails intent.
Eddie Yue Sets End-2026 Deadline For Round-The-Clock CMU Settlement
Speaking at the Treasury Markets Summit, HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue said the Central Moneymarkets Unit, the authority’s debt-securities settlement platform, will roll out new services by the end of 2026. The upgrade is meant to deliver real-time settlement around the clock rather than during limited market hours, as CMU currently operates. Yue said the redesigned platform is built to handle a digital Hong Kong dollar and a central bank digital currency.
He added that the HKMA will study whether tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins can settle directly on the CMU. No timeline was given for that separate review.
SFC Splits Five-Year Plan Into Short-Term And Long-Term Tokenization Rules
The Securities and Futures Commission separately published its strategy for carrying out Hong Kong’s first Five-Year Plan and the Chief Executive’s 2026 Policy Address. The commission split its measures into a short-term batch and a medium-to-long-term batch, both aimed at deepening links between mainland China and global markets. Over the longer term, it intends to draw up a regulatory framework for tokenized investment products covering tokenized gold and other tokenized real-world assets.
The regulator also plans a new licensing regime for digital assets, alongside a market-surveillance tool called CrypTech designed to flag suspicious trading activity. It intends to tighten anti-money-laundering monitoring and apply artificial intelligence across its oversight systems over time.
HSBC Still Hasn’t Issued Its Stablecoin Five Months After Licensing
Hong Kong granted its first two stablecoin issuer licenses in April 2026, to HSBC and to Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture led by Standard Chartered with HKT and Animoca Brands. Anchorpoint’s HKDAP token, which redeems one-for-one for Hong Kong
