On October 23, HSBC's Hong Kong dollar stablecoin RedCoin was integrated into PayMe, with 3.3 million users gradually opening wallets. Three days later, the Securities and Futures Commission approved two tokenized money market funds offered to the public, and round-the-clock trading began on Futu's PantherTrade.
The two developments touch on everyday payments and fund trading respectively. Their levels of maturity are not the same, but both show that Hong Kong's digital asset market is moving from policy, licensing and proof of concept toward an implementation stage that can be tested through product usage, trading activity and business data.
Four years: from declaration to the start of implementation
On October 31, 2022, the Hong Kong government issued a policy statement on virtual assets, stating its intention to align regulation with the entire virtual asset industry chain, and to prepare a licensing regime and study the scope of retail investor participation, with stablecoins and tokenization also included.
In June 2023, the virtual asset trading platform licensing regime took effect. At the end of the same year, the Securities and Futures Commission set out for the first time a regulatory framework for tokenized products.
In March of the following year, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched a stablecoin issuer sandbox, and in July announced the participants, with Standard Chartered, HKT and Animoca Brands on the list; the three later formed a joint venture, Anchorpoint. On December 6, 2024, the Stablecoins Bill was gazetted and had its first reading on December 18. On May 21, 2025, it passed its third reading in the Legislative Council, was gazetted as the Stablecoins Ordinance on May 30, and took effect on August 1.
On April 10 this year, the first batch of stablecoin licenses was granted, with only two approved out of 36 applications. Ten days later, the Securities and Futures Commission published a framework for the secondary market of tokenized funds.
On October 26, ChinaAMC and PantherTrade partnered to launch a round-the-clock secondary market trading service for a digital public fund approved by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong.
HSBC locks in users first
On October 23, HSBC officially launched the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin RedCoin (RCHKD) and integrated it into its payment app PayMe. More than 3.3 million PayMe users will gradually gain access to open a stablecoin wallet over the following days, allowing them to transfer money to friends and family and pay at more than 100,000 merchants.
Stablecoins thus have a chance to leave trading platforms and enter everyday payments.
HSBC also plans to add a stablecoin wallet to its Hong Kong mobile banking app and support subscriptions to tokenized investment products. This means RedCoin's application direction is expected to extend from everyday payments to investment, but the specific fund flow arrangements between payments and investment still need to be further clarified through subsequent product arrangements.
Anchorpoint grabs business first
If HSBC is first using a retail payment entry point to promote its stablecoin, Anchorpoint has chosen to start with corporate and institutional business.
Anchorpoint was formed by Standard Chartered Bank, HKT and Animoca Brands. Its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP launched its first phase of institutional trials on August 12, initially targeting institutional distributors, enterprises and professional investors, with a focus on exploring payment, settlement and tokenized real-world asset-related scenarios.
Unlike HSBC, which directly targets consumers, Anchorpoint connects enterprises and financial institutions through authorized distributors. Different institutions can reach customers through their own platforms and then integrate HKDAP into their existing business processes.
This model does not directly gain the advantage of a large retail application, but it is better suited to building usage demand around specific businesses.
In September, Payment Asia, OSL and Anchorpoint announced the completion of HKDAP enterprise payment applications in logistics and corporate travel-related scenarios, validating an end-to-end business-to-business settlement process.
On October 16, Finloop also announced a partnership with Anchorpoint and QFPay HK to complete a local HKDAP payment transaction. On the same day, Finloop also announced support for issuing a tokenized note, allowing HKDAP to be used for subscription, redemption and interest distribution.
This means HKDAP already has identifiable business scenarios and is no longer just a stablecoin waiting for applications.
But completing payment validation and forming sustained commercial demand are still two different things. Whether enterprises will use it repeatedly, whether transaction frequency can grow, and whether using stablecoins is more convenient than existing payment and settlement methods all require subsequent data to answer.
As of October 21, HKDAP's circulating supply was about 6.11 million tokens, reserves were about HK$7.21 million, and cumulative trading volume was about HK$35.1 million. Anchorpoint is still in the Beta Access stage and said that circulation and trading activity during the trial period are expected to be limited.
These data prove that HKDAP has begun to circulate, but they are not yet sufficient to prove that it has established a scaled enterprise payment network.
The difference in the routes of the two issuers is turning into a testable commercial question.
HSBC needs to prove that its existing user entry points can be converted into actual use of the stablecoin; Anchorpoint needs to prove that connecting different institutions and business scenarios can generate sustained settlement demand.
The former starts from users, the latter from business. What will ultimately determine the value of the two models is not how many potential users are in the wallets, but whether funds will repeatedly pass through these channels.
Tokenized funds that can trade around the clock
On October 26, ChinaAMC (Hong Kong) partnered with Futu's PantherTrade to launch a round-the-clock secondary market trading service for tokenized money market funds, initially supporting two tokenized money market funds in Hong Kong dollars and US dollars. Investors can buy and sell relevant fund shares 24 hours a day, seven days a week on a licensed virtual asset trading platform.
The value of this development is not just that there is one more fund product with longer trading hours.
Subscription and redemption of traditional funds are usually subject to trading days, valuation and settlement arrangements. After tokenized funds enter the secondary market, investors can buy and sell shares with other participants on the trading platform, without every transaction having to correspond to the fund's own subscription or redemption process.
What needs to be verified next is whether round-the-clock trading can bring more participants, more reasonable bid-ask spreads, and more effective capital allocation.
Hong Kong moves toward the implementation stage
Stablecoins are beginning to enter payment apps familiar to users and connect to enterprise business, and tokenized funds are beginning to offer round-the-clock trading. Hong Kong's digital asset development has already shown practical progress at different levels. As Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, said, Hong Kong's tokenization progress is moving from the "experimental stage" to the "implementation stage."
But there is still a clear distance between "starting implementation" and "the business model has already been proven."
RedCoin has a ready-made payment entry point, but still needs to prove that users will continue to use it; HKDAP has entered enterprise payment scenarios, but still needs to expand real transaction demand; tokenized funds can trade around the clock, but still need to build sufficient market depth.
Therefore, the indicators most worth watching for Hong Kong Web3 are now shifting from the number of licenses and projects to product usage rates, stablecoin turnover, fund trading volume and liquidity, and the actual financing scale brought by tokenized assets.
Hong Kong Web3 has begun to deliver on part of its promises, but has not yet completed commercial validation.
Competition in the next stage will not just be about who can issue stablecoins, launch tokenized funds or put more assets on-chain, but about who can keep these products entering payment, investment and financing processes, so that funds are willing to stay and willing to flow repeatedly.
When these businesses truly reach scale, the value of Hong Kong's investment in regulation and infrastructure construction over the past few years will be further reflected in real financial activities, beyond policy frameworks and product launches.
*The content of this article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice. Markets carry risks, and investment requires caution.
