Finance: At least nine institutions are considering applying for a Hong Kong stablecoin license, with all three groups in the sandbox planning to issue Hong Kong dollar stablecoins

According to a report by Jinse Finance, based on incomplete statistics from Caijing Magazine, there are currently at least nine institutions in the Hong Kong market that have either expressed interest in applying for a license or are rumored to be exploring the application process. Among them are three groups participating in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s stablecoin sandbox, all of which plan to issue Hong Kong dollar stablecoins. However, Hong Kong has already issued warnings about the risk of an “overheated” stablecoin market and aims to align stablecoin issuance and regulation with a comprehensive compliance framework equivalent to that of traditional finance. The preparation of relevant systems and the pace of approval are considered to offer valuable reference points, including: 1) Regarding entry thresholds, the initial legal rollout of statutory stablecoins in the Hong Kong SAR will not be a “free-for-all.” 2) In terms of timing, the Hong Kong SAR government is expected to issue stablecoin licenses within this year. 3) As for application scenarios, after the relevant institutions obtain licenses, there remains considerable uncertainty about the specific use cases they will focus on and whether they will be able to link to other fiat currencies.