For context, read this profile alongside the Hong Kong hub and the financial-licensing map. It is a case study in a regulated stablecoin issuer, not a product recommendation. Primary source: Anchorpoint.
In 2026 stablecoins became part of state payment policy: Hong Kong launched a licensing regime for issuers under the Stablecoins Ordinance — the law was passed in May 2025 and came into force on 1 August 2025. From that moment the issuance of HKD-pegged coins without an HKMA licence is outlawed, only coins from licensed issuers may be offered to retail investors, and regulated digital money enters the city's familiar financial perimeter alongside the SFC exchange regime.
The first pair of licensees was decided on 10 April 2026: the HKMA issued stablecoin issuer licences to Anchorpoint Financial Limited (number FRS01 in the register) and to the bank HSBC (FRS02); both took effect on issue. Anchorpoint — a joint venture of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), Animoca Brands and the telecoms group HKT — is the protagonist of this breakdown: the consortium is preparing the HKD coin HKDAP for settlement of tokenised assets and cross-border payments.
Background
The story began long before the licence. The partners had been studying the issuance of an HKD stablecoin since early 2023, in July 2024 the trio entered the HKMA stablecoin sandbox, and in February 2025 they incorporated a separate company, Anchorpoint Financial Limited, for the future application. The largest shareholder is Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), one of the city's note-issuing banks that print physical HKD; HKT brings payment distribution and a subscriber base, Animoca Brands brings Web3 expertise. The partners' exact stakes have not been publicly disclosed; the company is led by CEO Dominic Maffei.
The selection turned out to be tough. By the deadline of 30 September 2025 the HKMA had received 36 formal applications and the licences went to two — a first-round conversion rate of ≈5.6%. HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue had warned legislators as early as 2 February 2026 that the first licences would "definitely be few", and promised to issue them in March — the regulator delivered a few weeks late. Financial Secretary Paul Chan named the selection criteria at the same time: the quality of risk management, of reserves and of AML/CFT controls.
The fate of the sandbox is telling: its participants JD Coinlink (an entity of JD) and RD InnoTech did not receive licences in the first round. The HKMA had emphasised from the start that the sandbox remains a testing mechanism with no right to handle public money and guarantees nothing at the licensing stage. In the summer of 2025 Eddie Yue went so far as to advise companies without a clear use case to work with future issuers instead of filing their own applications — and urged investors to "stay calm" amid the flow of stablecoin news.
Products and pricing
Anchorpoint's product is the HKDAP stablecoin, the name standing for "HKD At Par": a coin with a hard peg to the Hong Kong dollar and redemption at par. The plan is phased issuance starting in the second quarter of 2026. On 14 May 2026 the company, together with the OSL platform, ran a full cycle on Ethereum mainnet: fiat routed into reserve assets through Standard Chartered's banking infrastructure, token issuance, transfers and full redemption of the entire test issue.
At the end of July 2026 the coin was still preparing for launch, according to Fintech News Hong Kong: The Standard wrote about a July start, while the company itself limited its comment to a formula of phased issuance with updates to follow. Distribution follows a B2B2C model: retail will get HKDAP through licensed VATP platforms, with OSL Group and HashKey Exchange among the named partners, and the issuer plans no direct sales to end users. The stated use cases are settlement of tokenised real-world assets (RWA), cross-border payments and trade finance; in time the HKT channel opens the coin a path into mass mobile payments and the telecom's merchant network.
A pre-launch product has no public tariffs, so what is worth looking at is the economics of the issuer model. Reserves are held in high-quality liquid assets at 100% of the issue, segregated from the company's own funds, and the issuer's income comes from interest on those reserves: the more coins in circulation, the more "free" liabilities placed in HKD instruments. Paying interest to the holder is prohibited by the Stablecoins Ordinance, and redemption at par must be completed within one business day without unjustified fees or burdensome conditions.
The regulatory bar is set high: minimum paid-up capital of HK$25m, liquid capital from HK$3m plus a buffer covering 12 months of operating expenses, an independent audit of reserves, a white paper disclosing the coin's mechanics and HKMA approval of key personnel.
Competitive landscape
The second licensee, HSBC, has taken the opposite route: its own HKD coin will be built directly into PayMe and the mobile bank in the second half of 2026 — P2P transfers, merchant payments and subscription to tokenised investments. The bank's Hong Kong CEO Maggie Ng ties the project to the city's ambition to become a global digital asset hub; HSBC already has the retail base, so its coin starts straight in the mass segment.
The division looks deliberate: HSBC covers retail payments inside its own ecosystem, while Anchorpoint builds the infrastructure layer for exchanges, RWA settlement and cross-border flows. Both licensees lean on HKD note-issuing banks, and after the results were announced market participants publicly called on the HKMA to widen access beyond banking structures.
Against global USD stablecoins such as USDT and USDC the Hong Kong pair plays on a different field: HKDAP has an HKD peg, full local supervision and legal access to Hong Kong retail, which is closed to unlicensed coins. In parallel the HKMA is running Project e-HKD+ — pilots of a digital Hong Kong dollar with priority on wholesale scenarios; regulated stablecoins occupy the private floor of the same digital money strategy.
What it means for the client
For a client with Hong Kong structures HKDAP is a future settlement instrument inside a fully regulated perimeter: a systemically important bank stands behind the issuer, reserves are verified by audit and redemption is guaranteed by HKMA rules. A coin from a consortium removes the main question about stablecoins — who is answerable for the peg. This is of particular interest to structures working with tokenised assets, trade finance and settlement through Hong Kong.
Onboarding will run through distributors. A corporate client will obtain HKDAP through the licensed OSL or HashKey Exchange platforms, with their KYC procedures and their own lists of supported jurisdictions; retail access will appear later through partner apps, and each platform will set its own terms for non-residents. The HKMA meanwhile warns about fraudsters posing as licensees — an issuer's status is verified in the public register on the regulator's site.
A practical caveat: there is no live turnover as of August 2026. Operational schemes built on HKDAP are worth planning after issuance starts and distributor pricing is published.
Under the hood
For the builder Anchorpoint provides a ready blueprint for approaching a stablecoin licence through a consortium. Each participant closes their own layer: the bank brings prudential weight, reserve infrastructure and trust custody; the telecom brings mass distribution; the Web3 group brings technology and connections to the crypto market. The filter of two out of 36 showed that the HKMA lets through structures with a banking anchor and a clear distribution model; pure Web3 applicants in the first round were left out.
The project's timing is a separate lesson: ≈3 years passed from the start of the work in 2023 to the licence, including a year in the sandbox and a year of a separate legal entity with paid-up capital. The sandbox provided dialogue with the regulator but, as the JD Coinlink case showed, was incapable of guaranteeing any advantage in the selection — what decided it was the shareholder mix and the quality of prudential preparation.
The technology perimeter: HKDAP lives on public Ethereum mainnet, while the reserve and settlement layer sits on Standard Chartered's banking infrastructure. The May test covered the coin's whole life cycle, from routing fiat in to full redemption; OSL CEO Kevin Cui described the point of the integration with the formula that money should move as freely as information. The issuer's economics, meanwhile, come down to scale: at HKD rates the income from reserves covers costs only at meaningful issuance volumes, which makes the B2B2C model with HKT's channels and exchange distributors a way to build circulation quickly without constructing a retail arm.
Regulation and status
The regime: the Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 566) was passed by LegCo on 21 May 2025 and has been in force since 1 August 2025; licensing and supervision are handled by the HKMA. Unlicensed issuance of fiat-referenced stablecoins and advertising of unlicensed coins are outlawed, only licensees' coins may be offered to retail, and falsely presenting oneself as a licensee is a criminal offence; incumbent players were given a six-month transition period.
The HKMA finalised the supervisory package by the end of July 2025: supervisory and AML/CFT guidelines plus explanatory notes on licensing and transitional provisions; applications for early consideration were accepted until 30 September 2025. Anchorpoint Financial Limited has held licence FRS01 since 10 April 2026; Eddie Yue describes the task of the regime as an "orderly operating environment" where innovative technology is combined with user protection and risk control.
The product status as of August 2026: HKDAP is pre-launch, the full cycle on Ethereum mainnet was tested on 14 May 2026, issuance is announced as phased and distribution will run through OSL and HashKey Exchange. There is no timeline for the next licensing rounds: the HKMA holds a line of openness with caution and links new licences to the results of the first launches.
FAQ
Can Anchorpoint's stablecoin be used already?
Not yet. As of August 2026 HKDAP is pre-launch: the licence was granted on 10 April 2026, the full issuance and redemption cycle was tested on Ethereum mainnet on 14 May, and the launch is announced as phased. Retail will receive the coin through licensed distributor platforms, among them OSL and HashKey Exchange.
Why did only two of 36 applicants receive licences?
The HKMA set a high prudential bar: capital from HK$25m, full reserves in liquid assets, redemption within one business day and mature AML/CFT controls — exactly what Financial Secretary Paul Chan named as the selection criteria. The structures that passed had a banking anchor: the consortium led by Standard Chartered, and HSBC. Sandbox participation gave no advantage: JD Coinlink and RD InnoTech were left without licences.
How does a stablecoin issuer make money?
On interest from reserves. The issuer holds 100% backing in HKD instruments and keeps the income from placing them, while paying interest to coin holders is prohibited by law. The model turns a profit at large volumes of circulation — hence Anchorpoint's bet on B2B2C distribution through partners.
How will HKDAP differ from HSBC's stablecoin?
HKDAP targets settlement of tokenised assets, cross-border payments and exchange distribution through OSL and HashKey. HSBC is preparing a retail coin for the second half of 2026 with integration into PayMe and the mobile bank: P2P transfers, merchant payments and subscription to tokenised investments. The two licensees cover different segments of the same regime.
Is USDT legal in Hong Kong after the launch of the regime?
The Stablecoins Ordinance targets the offering to retail: since 1 August 2025 only coins from licensed issuers may be offered to retail investors, and advertising unlicensed stablecoins is prohibited. USDT and USDC remain instruments of professional and offshore circulation; their issuers hold no HKMA licences.