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Advisory Network

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)

香港金融管理局

Central banking institution; licensing authority for stablecoin issuers

Hong KongRegulator

About

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is Hong Kong's central banking institution. It was established on 1 April 1993 by merging the Office of the Exchange Fund and the Office of the Commissioner of Banking. Eddie Yue is its Chief Executive.

The HKMA has four main functions. It maintains currency stability under the Linked Exchange Rate System and promotes the stability and integrity of the financial system, including banks. It helps maintain Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre and manages the Exchange Fund.

The HKMA licenses and supervises stablecoin issuers under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which took effect on 1 August 2025. It ran a stablecoin issuer sandbox from 2024. On 10 April 2026 it granted the first two issuer licences, to Anchorpoint Financial and HSBC. It also leads Hong Kong's tokenised bond work. This includes three government tokenised bond issuances and a Tokenised Bond Expert Group convened in 2026.

Policy engagement

Licenses fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers under the Stablecoins Ordinance, in force since August 2025. Granted the first two issuer licences, to Anchorpoint Financial and HSBC, on 10 April 2026.

Source: HKMA, 10 Apr 2026: granting of stablecoin issuer licences

Key actions

  1. Concluded the first phase of a joint review with the FSTB of distributed ledger technology in the bond market. The next phase is a legislative review.

    Source

  2. Convened a Tokenised Bond Expert Group of industry representatives to drive wider adoption of tokenised bonds in Hong Kong.

    Source

  3. Granted the first stablecoin issuer licences under the Stablecoins Ordinance, to Anchorpoint Financial and HSBC.

    Source

  4. Published final supervisory and AML/CFT guidelines for licensed stablecoin issuers ahead of the regime taking effect on 1 August 2025.

    Source

  5. Named the first stablecoin issuer sandbox participants: JINGDONG Coinlink, RD InnoTech, and a Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands and HKT group.

    Source

Also in Hong Kong