Hong Kong has granted its first licenses for fiat-backed stablecoins to HSBC and a Standard Chartered-led joint venture, marking a significant step in the city’s effort to build a regulated market for virtual currencies used in finance and trade.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said on Friday it had approved HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture formed by Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecommunications, to issue Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoins under a new regime that took effect in August 2025, Reuters reported.

Both issuers are expected to launch their stablecoins in the second half of this year for cross-border and local payment use cases as well as digital asset trading, according to a statement by HKMA, Hong Kong’s de facto central bank. The regulator received 36 stablecoin license applications last year, according to the report.

HKMA Deputy Chief Executive Daryl Ho said the authority was “open but cautious” about granting additional licenses and that any future approvals would be “very limited,” Reuters said.

Anchorpoint said it would work with selected businesses as distributors to make its stablecoin available to the public. HSBC said in a separate statement that its stablecoin would be offered through its PayMe and HSBC HK Mobile Banking apps. The bank plans to give retail customers and merchants more flexible and secure options through services including peer-to-peer payments, customer-to-merchant payments, and tokenized investments, Reuters reported.

Other jurisdictions may soon follow Hong Kong’s lead. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department proposed new rules that would help clear the way for the issuance of stablecoins. The joint proposal, issued by Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), would treat permitted payment stablecoin issuers, or PPSIs, as financial institutions for purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act.

Read more at Reuters