Hong Kong has granted the first stablecoin issuer licences in the city to Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Anchorpoint Financial.
Anchorpoint is a joint venture between Standard Chartered Hong Kong, Hong Kong Telecom, and local blockchain company Animoca Brands.
According to Eddie Yue, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the move is “an important milestone” for the development of digital assets in Hong Kong.
“The regulatory regime provides an orderly operating environment for stablecoin issuers to apply innovative technologies while ensuring robust user protection and effective risk management, which will foster the development of a healthy, responsible, and sustainable stablecoin ecosystem,” he says in a statement announcing the licence issuance on April 10.
The HKMA says the two firms will have to complete preparatory work and launch their stablecoin business “in the coming few months”.
Figures from McKinsey & Company show that the global stablecoin market surged over tenfold to more than US$300 billion in the last five years.
