HKD stablecoin “big retreat”: 36 applicants, only 2 left
Source: Foresight News
By Joe Zhou
Original title:Hong Kong dollar stablecoin “big retreat”
Strategy is negative, tactics are positive. The participants in the HKD stablecoin are waiting for a reason to get them excited.
“We are not optimistic about the HKD stablecoin.” An industry insider close to the supervisory authorities said bluntly to the author,
“Being optimistic about stablecoins doesn't mean being optimistic about HKD stablecoins — these are two completely different things.”
He paused and added: “Let the least willing and least motivated institution dominate the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin.
How can this be done to marginalize the most motivated and thoughtful institutions?”
This is not personal prejudice. The author learned from many Hong Kong stablecoin business participants that the first two Hong Kong dollar stablecoin licenses belonged to,
It already reflects the embarrassment of this “passive defensive” supervision: Standard Chartered Bank-led Anchoring Fintech Co., Ltd. is taking the initiative to advance.
Another licensed agency “simply doesn't want to do it” — this is already an open secret in the community.
At the same time, companies such as Ant Group, JD Technology, and Yuancoin Technology are strongly willing to explore the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin scenario.
However, they were unable to actually enter the game, or had no core dominance.
“Engaged, but not optimistic.” Two people from different institutions, both close to the Hong Kong stablecoin business, spoke almost in unison.
Currently, the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin situation is showing three subtle patterns: a type of institution is optimistic about the stablecoin circuit, but has reservations about the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin.
However, they have to “take their place”; other types of institutions themselves are not enthusiastic about stablecoins, but are being pushed to enter the market by regulation;
There is also a category of institutions that have the will, resources, and scenarios, but they are turned away because of their status.
This misalignment is the most realistic footnote to the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin's “Great Retreat”.
One license, two attitudes, three reactions
Standard Chartered is positive, HSBC is negative — one license, two attitudes.
In September 2025, 36 institutions flocked to submit applications for HKD stablecoin licenses.
Nearly a year has passed, and today in August 2026, few people have taken the initiative to mention the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin.
The hustle and bustle has receded, and there are only two real players left: Standard Chartered and HSBC. A brand-new business model was eventually completely handed over to organizations that are mainly engaged in traditional business models.
Market sentiment is as cold as ice.
“Everyone in the community knows that HSBC is not active.” Two people from different Hong Kong licensed crypto exchanges invariably told the author.
On April 10, 2026, the HKMA Xiang Dingdian Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (a joint venture between Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT and Animoca Brands)
The first two HKD stablecoin licenses were issued with Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.
However, according to industry sources, the two institutions have very different attitudes towards stablecoins.
Standard Chartered has shown some initiative and has begun to lay out a global stablecoin strategy.
On July 2, 2026, Standard Chartered and USDC issuer Circle jointly announced the launch of an institutional-grade USDC one-stop access service.
On August 12, 2026, Anchorage Financial launched the first phase of the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP.
Currently, it is only open to institutional distributors and professional investors such as HashKey and OSL to a limited extent.
It also plans to expand to retail users as early as the end of 2026, depending on market conditions.
HSBC is a different story. “HSBC is passive; they only do it when they are pointed at their nose.”
An industry insider spoke bluntly to the author. Compared with Standard Chartered's aggressive promotion, HSBC's Hong Kong dollar stablecoin program is clearly behind schedule until the second half of 2026.
Behind this delay is HSBC's careful consideration of the stablecoin business based on real interests.
“HSBC is more inclined to implement tokenized deposits rather than stablecoins.” A person close to HSBC revealed.
The root cause is that stablecoins directly conflict with HSBC's main business.
According to the data, about 85% of HSBC's payment business revenue comes from net interest income based on deposits.
The payments business itself accounted for approximately 22% of its total revenue in 2025.
HSBC's core business model is to absorb low-cost deposits,
Earn interest spreads through loans and investments — and stablecoin issuance simply diverts bank deposits and shakes their roots.
What's more, the business of issuing compliant stablecoins itself is far from being “profiteering”: revenue is highly dependent on the interest rate environment.
Profits, however, are being devoured by channels such as distribution, trusteeship, and distribution. For HSBC, which has deposit and loan spreads as the core and holds a large number of customer deposits,
Active all-in stablecoins not only erode their deposit base, but also fail to earn significant profits, and lack internal commercial driving force.
In addition to Standard Chartered and HSBC, the reaction of 13 licensed crypto exchanges to the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin is also quite intriguing.
Standard Chartered and HSBC assume the distribution role, and distribution, hosting, etc. rely on licensed crypto exchanges such as HashKey, OSL, EXIO, and Panthertrade.
However, judging from what I have learned, the attitudes of these exchanges can be broadly divided into three categories.
First reaction: No expectations.“From a commercial perspective, the HKD stablecoin sees no opportunity for institutions to make profits.”
A person from a licensed crypto exchange in Hong Kong said bluntly, “Not to mention, now Hong Kong's licensed crypto exchange itself continues to lose money.”
“No expectations.” he said.
Second reaction:Retreat and watch. According to the author's understanding, at least three licensed crypto exchanges were testing the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin with Anchorage Fintech.
However, exchanges have already begun to retreat and are unwilling to spend too much effort doing all kinds of tests.
Third reaction:Active tactics, wait-and-see strategy.
“Not strategically active; tactically active.” A person from another Hong Kong licensed crypto exchange said.
The practitioner revealed that the team is currently actively testing cooperation with the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin issuer.
But judging from the company's overall strategy — “We all know that this is not a business that currently sees profit opportunities.”
The euro is panicking, the yen is stupid, the Korean won is slow, and the Hong Kong dollar is lagging, they are all running with it
The plight of Hong Kong dollar stablecoins is not unique to Hong Kong. Open your eyes. Non-US dollar stablecoins in various financial centers around the world are running with almost no exceptions.
The euro is panicking, the yen is stupid, the Korean won is slow, and the Hong Kong dollar is lagging — one winner, four running with their own difficulties.
First, let's talk about the Euro stablecoin. As the second-largest currency after the US dollar in terms of storage, it seems flustered.
The euro is the second-largest payment currency and reserve currency in the world — according to SWIFT data, the euro accounted for 21.88% of global payments in June 2026, second only to the US dollar;
The euro accounts for about 20% of the world's foreign exchange reserves, ranking second.
A currency that accounts for 22% of international trade and finance, its stablecoins only account for 0.22% of the global market — a difference of 100 times.
Seeing the development of US dollar stablecoins in full swing, Europe is in a hurry and plans to launch MiCA-compliant euro stablecoins in the second half of 2026.
The membership has now been expanded to 37 financial institutions, covering 15 European countries, including BNP Paribas, Dutch International Group,
There are many major European banks such as Yuxin Bank, Spanish Foreign Bank, and ABN AMRO.
However, the 37-bank union watched the chaos, but the reality was that there was a lot of thunder and little rain.
The euro stablecoin has a market capitalization of only $674 million, accounting for 0.3% of the global stablecoin market.
Most of this 0.3% share is still occupied by an American company.
Circle's EURC has a 64% share of the entire euro stablecoin with around $4.3 billion.
“The Japanese yen stablecoin is stupid.” An industry insider put it bluntly.
“It's not that technology isn't good; it's that system design narrowed the path from the beginning.” “There's no liquidity right now.” he added.
In June 2026, SBI Holdings officially launched JPYSC, Japan's first Ethereum-yen stablecoin backed by a trust bank.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui, Mizuho — Japan's top three banks also announced the joint development of their own yen stablecoin, with plans to launch commercial transactions in the 2026 fiscal year.
But the problem is that Japanese regulations frame stablecoins in the trust banking system - the issuer must be a trust bank,
Reserve assets must be held in a trust bank, and redemption must also go through a trust bank.
After a round of operation, the stablecoin was vividly transformed into a “shackled electronic deposit slip,” which had almost nothing to do with the programmability of the blockchain.
It's not that Japan can't make stablecoins — it's something they've made, and no one is excited.
The Korean won stablecoin is slow and stagnant. It's not that companies don't want to do it; it's that supervision hasn't stopped arguing.
The nine major card issuers completed the pilot run. The Bank of Busan's pilot transaction success rate on Kaia Chain was 100%, and the processing time was less than 1 second.
Kakao and Circle's infrastructure is also ready — the company is ready, but regulations are still fighting on the ground.
What's the noise? Noisy “who will post it”. The Bank of Korea insists that “banks hold more than 51% of the shares.” The industry rebounded strongly, believing that “this is not stability; it is stagnation.”
Because South Korea's “Banking Law” stipulates that banks hold up to 15% of shares in other companies — to make up to 51%, at least 4 to 5 banks must work together.
This in itself is blocking the market.
The Financial Services Commission's bill was pushed out more than once from Q1 to the “second half of the year.” The money can't wait.
South Korea has had a net stablecoin outflow for 18 months, with a cumulative total of over 1 billion US dollars — they cannot be distributed domestically; users can only transfer them out in exchange for US dollar stablecoins.
The “slowness” of the Korean won stablecoin is not a matter of capacity; it is a matter of decision-making.
The Hong Kong dollar stablecoin is a wait; it is a delay. Wait for the US Clarity Act and wait for banks to do it slowly.
Market evaluation: Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, the earliest to be issued, the coldest start, with a license and no enthusiasm.
But the bigger problem is: if you have a scene, you can't get in; if you don't have a scene, you have to do it.
Ants wanted to do it, JD wanted to do it, HashKey wanted to do it — they were willing, motivated, and had scenes, but they were all out of the door.
From the beginning, the HKD stablecoin was not an active offense, but a passive defense. Hong Kong had to do it because others did it.
The global stablecoin market is nearly $308.3 billion, with USD stablecoins accounting for 98%. One reason is that the dollar is too strong; other regions are also too slow.
The Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, on the other hand, has fallen into an embarrassing situation.
[Disclaimer] This article does not constitute investment advice.
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