Hong Kong To Issue First Stablecoin Licenses in Q1 2026
#HongKong authorities will grant the jurisdiction's first stablecoin issuer #licenses during the first quarter, Financial Secretary Paul Chan disclosed Tuesday. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chan outlined the timeline for approvals under the city's #stablecoin regulatory framework that became effective last August.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will evaluate applications under compliance standards covering reserve asset management, par value redemption guarantees, client fund segregation, and Anti-Money Laundering protocols. Companies seeking to offer or market stablecoins to retail investors must secure regulatory approval before operations commence. Authorities have not identified which applicants will receive initial licenses.
Application volume reached 36 companies as of September 2025, according to reporting from The Standard. A joint venture combining Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and HKT ranks among known applicants. Ant Group's Alipay platform and Chinese e-commerce operator JD(dot)com participated in earlier sandbox testing but reportedly faced mainland government pressure to halt Hong Kong licensing pursuits.
Chan's Davos appearance forms part of broader efforts to establish Hong Kong as a financial technology center. He characterized the city's #digital asset approach as balancing innovation encouragement with investor protection, arguing that technological advances in finance improve transparency, efficiency, accessibility, and risk controls while enabling more effective capital deployment.
Global stablecoin interest has intensified as the sector reached $309 billion in aggregate market capitalization, according to DefiLlama tracking. Major financial institutions, including JP Morgan, Bank of America, PayPal, and Visa, have explored
#stablecoin applications.
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