HSBC and Standard Chartered Expected to Receive Hong Kong’s First Stablecoin Licenses

TheNewsCryptoPublicado em 2026-03-13Última atualização em 2026-03-13

Resumo

HSBC and Standard Chartered are expected to be among the first to receive stablecoin issuer licenses in Hong Kong under the new regulatory framework established by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The Stablecoin Ordinance, passed in 2025, requires businesses to obtain official approval before issuing fiat-backed stablecoins. The initial licensing round will be limited, with only a small number of approvals expected soon. This move is part of Hong Kong's strategy to build a regulated digital-asset ecosystem, balancing innovation with investor protection. The involvement of major traditional banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered could help integrate regulated stablecoins into global finance, improving the efficiency of cross-border payments and settlements.

Two major international banks, HSBC and Standard Chartered, are expected to receive some of the first stablecoin issuer licenses in Hong Kong. The move would mark an important step in Hong Kong’s effort to build a regulated digital-asset ecosystem.

Hong Kong moves to regulated stablecoins.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has set up a new system for giving out the licenses. The Stablecoin Ordinance was passed by the regulator in 2025. It says that businesses must get official permission before issuing stablecoins that are backed by fiat currency. According to reports, the first approvals could be granted within the next few weeks.

Hong Kong regulators plan to issue only a small number of licenses in the initial round. Authorities reportedly reviewed dozens of applications before selecting potential issuers. Sources say around 36 companies initially expressed interest in applying for stablecoin licenses. HSBC’s potential approval is particularly notable because the bank did not participate in the HKMA’s earlier stablecoin sandbox program, which was designed to test projects before formal licensing.

The licensing process shows that Hong Kong wants to attract crypto businesses while still keeping strict rules. The government wants to protect investors while also encouraging new ideas. More and more, traditional banks are looking into blockchain-based payment systems to speed up international payments.

Many traditional banks are looking into blockchain technology to make payments and settling debts faster. If they get the green light, HSBC and Standard Chartered could help bring regulated stablecoins into the world of finance. This could make it easier for banks and people all over the world to use blockchain technology.

Highlighted Crypto News:

Hester Peirce Says SEC Working on Limited Innovation Exemption for Tokenized Securities

TagsHongKongHSBCStablecoin

Perguntas relacionadas

QWhich two banks are expected to receive Hong Kong's first stablecoin licenses?

AHSBC and Standard Chartered are expected to receive Hong Kong's first stablecoin licenses.

QWhat is the name of the regulatory authority and the ordinance that established the stablecoin licensing system in Hong Kong?

AThe Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) established the system, and the Stablecoin Ordinance was passed in 2025.

QWhat is a key requirement for businesses under the new Stablecoin Ordinance?

ABusinesses must obtain official permission before issuing fiat-backed stablecoins.

QHow many companies initially expressed interest in applying for a stablecoin license, and how many licenses will be issued in the initial round?

AAround 36 companies initially expressed interest, but only a small number of licenses will be issued in the initial round.

QWhy is HSBC's potential approval particularly notable, according to the article?

AIt is notable because HSBC did not participate in the HKMA's earlier stablecoin sandbox program designed to test projects before formal licensing.

Leituras Relacionadas

House Committee Unveils 7 Crypto Tax Drafts—A Major Overhaul Of How Digital Assets Are Taxed

The US House Ways and Means Committee has released seven crypto tax discussion drafts, marking a major legislative effort to clarify how digital assets are taxed. This initiative, backed by committee leadership, aims to establish clearer rules on the timing and treatment of taxes for activities like crypto mining, staking rewards, and stablecoin transactions, including potential capital gains exemptions. The package also seeks to extend wash sale restrictions to digital assets. Lawmakers are working with the Treasury, Commerce Department, and White House on the measures, while Senate tax writers are also developing their own legislation, signaling a move toward a more unified approach to crypto taxation.

bitcoinistHá 43m

House Committee Unveils 7 Crypto Tax Drafts—A Major Overhaul Of How Digital Assets Are Taxed

bitcoinistHá 43m

TechFlow Intelligence Bureau: Chip Stocks Lose Trillions in a Single Day, Bitcoin Falls Below $60,000, US-Iran Conflict Escalates

**Daily Tech & Markets Roundup: AI Advances, Market Turmoil, and Geopolitical Tensions** **AI / LLMs**: Anthropic's internal report on AI self-improvement sparked serious discussions about Recursive Self-Improvement (RSI). Meanwhile, debate continues on AI coding tools after Claude was accused of introducing bugs into the rsync codebase. In positive news, DeepSeek V4 Flash impressed in local deployment tests, and GitHub Copilot now supports custom endpoints for local models. A surprising research turn suggests removing chain-of-thought prompting can sometimes improve LLM performance. **Crypto / Web3**: Bitcoin plunged below $60,000, with its RSI hitting levels last seen during the COVID-19 crash, driven by strong U.S. jobs data reviving interest rate hike fears. Discussions highlight Ethereum DeFi's continued lack of a smooth consumer payment layer. **Chips / Hardware**: Chip stocks suffered a massive sell-off, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index posting its worst single-day drop in six years, erasing over a trillion dollars in value. Marvell, Micron, AMD, and Intel were among the biggest losers. **Tech Companies**: A leaked Microsoft document revealing goals to make Copilot "addictive" drew criticism. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman left Microsoft's board to focus full-time on his AI agent startup, Manus. Google was revealed to be paying SpaceX $920 million monthly for AI training compute. **Markets & Macro**: A blowout U.S. jobs report (172k vs. 80k expected) crushed hopes for near-term rate cuts, sending Treasury yields soaring and triggering a broad market sell-off. CEOs from Kraft, McDonald's, and Whirlpool simultaneously warned U.S. consumers are exhausting their savings. **Geopolitics**: U.S.-Iran tensions escalated with missile/drone interceptions and U.S. strikes on Iranian radar sites, keeping the critical Strait of Hormuz largely closed since late February and posing ongoing oil supply risks. **The Bottom Line**: The strong jobs data acted as a single trigger for correlated sell-offs across equities, crypto, and chips. Underlying the volatility is a stark contradiction between robust employment data and warnings of consumer weakness, alongside geopolitical risks that could reignite inflation, leaving markets to price in a fraught macro outlook with no clear "soft landing" path.

marsbitHá 2h

TechFlow Intelligence Bureau: Chip Stocks Lose Trillions in a Single Day, Bitcoin Falls Below $60,000, US-Iran Conflict Escalates

marsbitHá 2h

Solana Treasury Giant Sends 455,784 SOL To Coinbase Prime: Selling Move?

Forward Industries, the largest corporate holder of Solana (SOL), has deposited 455,784 SOL (worth approximately $31.87 million) to Coinbase Prime. This move is seen as a potential sign the company may be preparing to sell, as its treasury strategy is currently at a significant loss. The firm accumulated 6.83 million SOL at an average price of $232.08 in 2025, but with SOL now trading around $65, its holdings are valued at just $452 million, representing a steep decline. This action follows similar pressures on other major crypto treasury firms, like Bitcoin holder Strategy, which are also deep in the red due to the broader market downturn. Solana's price has fallen over 19% in the past week.

bitcoinistHá 2h

Solana Treasury Giant Sends 455,784 SOL To Coinbase Prime: Selling Move?

bitcoinistHá 2h

It Took Me a Year to See the Bitter Truth About Agent Payments

After a year building infrastructure for the Agent economy, engaging with major players like Stripe, Visa, and Coinbase, the author shares a sobering analysis of the current state of Agent payments. The core finding is a stark lack of genuine, immediate demand across most envisioned use cases. The article breaks down four key market segments: 1. **Agent-to-Merchant (Consumer Shopping):** For most product categories (e.g., clothing, electronics), conversational AI shopping is a step backwards from visual e-commerce interfaces. While agents excel at understanding needs, they can't replace side-by-side product comparison. Real merchant interest is defensive "Agent Engine Optimization," not driven by current customer demand. Potential exists for high-frequency, low-decision purchases (like food delivery) or navigating complex store UIs, but these require massive B2C distribution channels dominated by giants like Amazon. 2. **Agent-to-API (Developer Services):** Developers already have subscriptions and billing relationships for APIs (compute, data). Prepaid balances solve micro-payment issues for low transaction volumes. A deeper structural problem is that major SaaS vendors' business models rely on enterprise contracts, resisting granular pay-per-call pricing. While protocols like MPP and x402 serve the long tail of niche services, this market is small and developers are historically low-willingness-to-pay. 3. **Agent-to-Agent:** This remains largely theoretical with minimal transaction volume. While it represents a long-term bet on a fundamentally new transaction infrastructure (sub-second, micro-penny to million-dollar, multi-party settlements), it does not constitute a present market. 4. **Agent-to-Finance:** This is the only category with existing, paying demand. Integrating AI into financial workflows (trading, portfolio management) is a natural evolution and enables new capabilities like autonomous rebalancing. However, competition favors established, regulated institutions. The "real problem" is not moving money between agents, but the broader challenge of **coordination**—orchestrating work between agents and humans, verifying outcomes, and settling results. Payment is just one component of settlement, which is itself part of coordination. Companies that solve the coordination layer will subsume payment, not the other way around. While well-funded incumbents build defensively for a long-term future, startups must find where the market is today—which, for the author's team, lies outside these four categories in an area of real, growing, and underserved activity.

marsbitHá 2h

It Took Me a Year to See the Bitter Truth About Agent Payments

marsbitHá 2h

It Took Me a Year to See the Hard Truth About Agent Payments

**Title: It Took Me a Year to See the Hard Truth About Agent Payments** Over the past year, I've worked on infrastructure for the Agent economy, engaging with major players like Stripe, Visa, Coinbase, and numerous startups. The findings reveal a stark reality: genuine, widespread demand for Agent-based payments does not yet exist. **Key Observations:** * **Agent-to-Merchant (Shopping):** The user experience for AI shopping often falls short, especially for visual product discovery. While AI excels at understanding needs, conversational interfaces can't yet replace browsing and comparing multiple products visually. Current merchant interest is largely defensive ("Agent Engine Optimization") for a future that hasn't arrived. High-frequency, low-friction purchases (like food delivery) are potential fits, but lack open APIs and face high AI inference costs. Simpler, more affordable, or cross-language interactions for complex UIs are a niche opportunity but require massive consumer distribution to scale. * **Agent-to-API (Developer Tools):** Developer payment needs for APIs (computing, data, models) are already met through subscriptions and prepaid credits. The core challenge is not payment friction but supplier economics: most large SaaS providers prefer enterprise contracts over micropayments for API calls. Protocols like MPP and x402 suit the long-tail of smaller services but cater to a developer market historically reluctant to pay for these tools. Major infrastructure needs at the top of the stack are already being addressed. * **Agent-to-Agent (Machine Commerce):** This is a long-term vision with almost no current transaction volume. While a future with high-speed, high-frequency, multi-party machine-to-machine transactions would require novel infrastructure, it remains theoretical. The market is not here yet. * **Agent-to-Finance:** This is the only category with clear, present demand. Financial professionals and DeFi users already pay for tools, and AI augmentation is a natural evolution. Autonomous AI agents can enable entirely new financial strategies. However, competition is fierce from established, regulated incumbents who can more easily layer AI onto their existing products. **The Core Insight:** Companies, especially giants with long time horizons, are building defensively for a potential future of mass machine commerce. For them, early investment is a low-cost hedge. For startups, the current market reality is different. The primary challenge isn't just moving money between agents (payments). The larger, unsolved problem is **orchestration** – coordinating work between agents and humans, verifying outcomes, and then settling. Payment is just a part of settlement, which is just a part of orchestration. Companies that solve the orchestration problem will subsume payments, not the other way around. After a year of building, we see the real, growing, and underserved market opportunity lies in this broader domain of orchestration.

链捕手Há 3h

It Took Me a Year to See the Hard Truth About Agent Payments

链捕手Há 3h

Trading

Spot
Futuros
活动图片

Categorias popularesright-arrow

Etiquetas Popularesright-arrow