Under the Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656), which took effect on 1 Aug 2025, issuing a fiat-referenced stablecoin in Hong Kong in the course of business needs a licence from the Monetary Authority, subject to exemptions and to transitional provisions for issuers that carried on the activity in Hong Kong before that date, whose deadline to apply under them was 31 Oct 2025. So does issuing one outside Hong Kong, in the course of business, if it references the Hong Kong dollar wholly or partly. On 10 Apr 2026 the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced licences for Anchorpoint Financial Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC). On 29 Jul 2025 the HKMA had said that no licence had been issued.
The regime in brief
The Legislative Council passed the Stablecoins Bill on 21 May 2025. The Monetary Authority is responsible for licensing, and the HKMA handles applications through its Stablecoin Licensing Team and keeps the public register of licensees.
For now, the regime covers only fiat-referenced stablecoins: the HKMA says the "specified stablecoins" the Ordinance regulates currently cover only coins that reference wholly one or more official currencies.
On 29 Jul 2025 the HKMA published, among other documents, an Explanatory Note on Licensing of Stablecoin Issuers, a supervisory guideline and an anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) guideline, all listed on its stablecoin issuers page. For Hong Kong's other rules, see Anvesan's Hong Kong regime page.
Who needs a license
Section 5 of the Ordinance defines a regulated stablecoin activity as the two cases above (issuing in Hong Kong, and issuing a Hong Kong dollar-referenced coin elsewhere), plus any activity the Monetary Authority specifies under section 5(4). Under section 8, it is an offence to carry on, or hold out as carrying on, a regulated stablecoin activity without a licence or an exemption. A person that actively markets to the public, in Hong Kong or elsewhere, that it carries on or purports to carry on an activity that would be regulated if carried on in Hong Kong is treated as holding out.
The Monetary Authority decides case by case whether a coin is issued in Hong Kong. The factors it considers include where the issuer's day-to-day management and operations take place, where the issuer is incorporated, where minting and burning happen and where the reserve assets are managed.
The Monetary Authority can exempt a person or class of persons under section 13, but only if it is satisfied that the risks to holders or potential holders and to Hong Kong's monetary or financial system are immaterial.
Requirements at headline level
The Monetary Authority grants a licence only if satisfied that the Schedule 2 minimum criteria that apply to the licensee would be met, and a licensee must keep meeting them. Except where Sherpa is cited, the points in this section come from the HKMA's licensing note and supervisory guideline.
- Company. The applicant must be a company incorporated in Hong Kong, or an authorized institution (as defined in the Banking Ordinance) incorporated outside Hong Kong. The HKMA's note says other overseas firms should incorporate a Hong Kong subsidiary to be the applicant.
- Capital. The applicant must have adequate financial resources and liquid assets to meet its obligations as they will or may fall due. Without limiting that, it must at all times have paid-up share capital of at least HKD 25,000,000 (Sherpa, as of 27 Sep 2026), or an equivalent amount in another currency that is freely convertible into Hong Kong dollars or approved by the Monetary Authority, or other financial resources it approves as equivalent. Licence conditions can require more. This criterion does not apply to authorized institutions.
- Reserves. Each type of stablecoin needs its own segregated reserve pool, whose market value must at all times be at least equal to the par value of the coins in circulation. The HKMA expects appropriate over-collateralisation on top. Reserve assets must be of high quality and high liquidity with minimal investment risks, and held in the referenced currency, with flexibility allowed case by case with the Monetary Authority's prior written approval. They must be adequately protected against claims by the issuer's other creditors in all circumstances, and the issuer must have controls ensuring they are regularly attested and audited by a qualified, independent external auditor acceptable to the Monetary Authority.
- Redemption. Holders must have the right to redeem at par. Valid requests must be honoured, without an unreasonable fee or an unduly burdensome condition, as soon as practicable, except with the Monetary Authority's prior written consent. Unless otherwise approved, they should be processed within one business day after the day of receipt.
- No interest. A licensee must not pay, or permit to be paid, any interest in relation to its stablecoins.
- People. Chief executives, directors, controllers and, at authorized institutions, stablecoin managers must be fit and proper, with relevant knowledge and experience. The Monetary Authority generally expects senior management and key personnel to be based in Hong Kong.
- Other criteria. The criteria also include, among others, risk management, AML/CFT controls, an issue that is prudent and sound given its purpose, business model and operational arrangement, a white paper published before the coin is offered to the public, complaint handling, and recovery and orderly wind-down planning.
Separately, section 22 requires a licensee to pay a yearly licence fee, of an amount set in Schedule 3 to the Ordinance. The HKMA's note says it is due within 14 days after the licence takes effect, then on or before each anniversary, and the Financial Secretary can change the amount by notice in the Gazette.
For the licence path, see Sherpa's Pathfinder.
The application process and timelines
The HKMA encourages interested firms to contact it at stablecoin_licensing@hkma.gov.hk for an informal discussion before applying. If the applicant's parent runs a regulated digital asset or financial services business where the parent is incorporated, the Monetary Authority may contact that home regulator.
Main steps in the HKMA's licensing note:
- Application. The note says the applicant should submit the forms from the Licensing Team and the documents listed as items 1 to 23 in Annex B.
- Further information. The Monetary Authority can, by written notice under section 14(3), require information it considers necessary to decide the application, and may refuse to process an application further or reject it (section 14(4)) if that information is not provided.
- Independent assessment reports. The applicant is also required to submit independent assessment reports on whether its policies, procedures, processes, systems and controls in certain areas comply with the applicable requirements, when the Monetary Authority says, not with the form.
- Committee review. A Stablecoin Advisory Committee of senior HKMA officers considers every application and makes recommendations to the Monetary Authority.
- Decision. A licence can carry conditions. A refusal comes in a written notice stating the ground.
On timing, the note says the processing time "will depend on the particular circumstances of each application". On 29 Jul 2025 the HKMA said licensing would be an ongoing process. In the first batch, 36 entities applied by the 30 Sep 2025 deadline for early consideration, and the HKMA announced licences for two of them on 10 Apr 2026.
The licensees so far
The HKMA announced on 10 Apr 2026 that the Monetary Authority had granted licences to two firms, with effect that day. No earlier grant appears in the sources this guide checked: on 29 Jul 2025 the HKMA said no licence had been issued, its register lists no others, and no other grant appears among the press releases listed on its stablecoin issuers page. As read on 27 Sep 2026, the Register of Licensed Stablecoin Issuers, last revised on 23 Apr 2026, shows:
| Licensee | Licence number | Effective date |
|---|---|---|
| Anchorpoint Financial Limited | FRS01 | 10 Apr 2026 |
| The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited | FRS02 | 10 Apr 2026 |
HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue wrote on 10 Apr 2026 that Anchorpoint is a joint venture of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, HKT Limited and Animoca Brands Limited, and that both issuers plan to issue Hong Kong dollar-referenced stablecoins in the initial phase. Based on their business plans, he said, the HKMA expected regulated stablecoins to launch in mid to second half of 2026. On further licences, he said the HKMA had "no definitive inclination at this stage", and that if more are granted the overall number will remain very limited.
On 28 Apr 2026 the HKMA said both licensees had confirmed they had not issued any regulated stablecoins in the market. None of the HKMA pages checked for this guide on 27 Sep 2026 reports a launch by either licensee after that date, and this guide could not confirm whether either has launched since. For other markets, see Anvesan's regimes index and the Atlas.
Recent changes
- 17 Jul 2026. The HKMA updated its list of the licensees' contacts for customer complaints.
- 28 Apr 2026. The HKMA warned that tokens with the tickers "HKDAP" or "HSBC" had been launched but were not issued by, or otherwise associated with, licensed stablecoin issuers.
- 10 Apr 2026. The HKMA announced two licences.