HSBC has named its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin RedCoin but has not issued it yet. RedCoin will reach retail users first through PayMe and the HSBC HK App. Anchorpoint’s HKDAP, the only other
HSBC has named its forthcoming Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HSBC RedCoin and plans a commercial launch before the end of 2026, the bank confirmed on September 30. The token, pegged 1:1 to the HKD and issued under Hong Kong Monetary Authority licence FRS02, is not yet available to the public, and HSBC will distribute it first through its PayMe wallet and the HSBC HK App. With the name now public, the city’s two licensed stablecoin issuers have committed to clearly different paths: HSBC is targeting everyday retail payments, while the Standard Chartered-backed Anchorpoint Financial is building its token around institutional settlement.
HSBC has named three initial functions for the token. PayMe users will be able to send RedCoin to one another and pay participating merchants, and customers of the HSBC HK App will be able to use it to subscribe to tokenised investment products. The bank says it will then expand into wholesale corporate and institutional use cases, but has not given a timeline.
Distribution is HSBC’s biggest advantage. PayMe has more than 3.3 million users, so the bank does not have to persuade anyone to open a crypto exchange account or manage a self-custodied wallet. HSBC has not confirmed how much of the underlying blockchain infrastructure users will see, if any.
The bank also published a survey of more than 1,000 Hong Kong customers. In it, 74% could identify at least one stablecoin use case. Digital asset trading and tokenised investments had the highest recognition, yet HSBC chose to lead with payments. The same survey found that 10% of respondents believed stablecoins pay interest, which Hong Kong’s rules do not allow, and 62% said clearer regulation would do most to build their confidence. Recognising a use case is a long way from adopting a product, and the survey says nothing about how many people intend to use RedCoin.
HSBC RedCoin HKMA licence: FRS02 Peg: 1:1 HKD Status: Named, launch planned before end-2026 First users: Retail customers Distribution: PayMe, HSBC HK App Blockchain: Not disclosed HKDAP (Anchorpoint) HKMA licence: FRS01 Peg: 1:1 HKD Status: Institutional beta since August 12, 2026 First users: Distributors and professional investors Distribution: Authorised third-party distributors Blockchain: Ethereum, more chains plannedHong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance took effect on August 1, 2025, and made it a licensed activity to issue a fiat-referenced stablecoin in the city. The HKMA received 36 applications in the first round and approved two on April 10, 2026. That approval rate of about 5.6% applies to the first round only, as some applications may still be under review.
Licensed issuers must hold full reserve backing in segregated assets, meet redemption requests at par and comply with anti-money-laundering rules. Segregation ring-fences the reserve pool from the rest of the issuer’s balance sheet, which is the mechanism that lets a holder rely on redemption. The HKMA said the two stood out for their risk management and credible use cases, and both arrived with a ready route to users.
Anchorpoint, a venture involving Standard Chartered, HKT and Animoca Brands, started its HKDAP beta on August 12 with HashKey and OSL as partners. Standard Chartered became an authorised bank distributor on August 24. Finloop and Yunfeng Financial joined soon after, and Bank of East Asia signed a memorandum of understanding on August 28 to explore applications. Trade-finance firm Unloq completed a smart-contract transaction using the token within the first week. According to the HKDAP whitepaper, the token runs on Ethereum at launch.
Anchorpoint’s transparency dashboard shows the scale involved.
HKDAP metric (September 23, 2026) Figure Tokens in circulation 1,006,890 Reserve assets (HKD) 2,110,045 Reported transaction volume 95,010 Issued, preceding 30 days 510,086 Redeemed, preceding 30 days 66,061Source: Anchorpoint Financial. Unaudited weekly beta disclosures. Anchorpoint says it expects limited activity while access is restricted to selected distributors, and it will publish audited reserve attestations only after full launch.
Reserves stood at about 2.1 times circulation. Roughly HK$1 million in tokens is tiny for a city where PayMe alone has more than 3.3 million users, and it shows how far a licence is from real usage.
RedCoin joins a tokenisation business HSBC has been building for several years. Its tokenised gold product for Hong Kong retail customers had processed more than $2.37 billion in trading volume across over 298,000 trades through July 2026. Its HSBC Orion platform has handled more than $5 billion in digital bond issuance, and the bank offers real-time exchange of tokenised commercial deposits in six markets.
HSBC’s own framework explains the split. The bank treats tokenised deposits as the better fit for wholesale transfers and stablecoins as the tool for retail payments. RedCoin covers the retail side of that split, and its investment subscription feature links it to the tokenised products HSBC already sells.
PayMe already moves Hong Kong dollars instantly between users, so RedCoin needs a reason to exist inside the same app. HSBC has not published fees, transaction limits or redemption terms. It has not said which chain the token will use or whether holders will be able to send it to external wallets.
That last point matters for exchanges. An SFC circular published on May 27 set out how licensed platforms and intermediaries can deal in relevant stablecoins, so a regulatory route to exchange listings exists. Whether HSBC opens RedCoin to it is a commercial decision the bank has not yet made. Demand for tokenised investments is growing: SFC figures show 13 tokenised retail products held HK$10.8 billion at the end of March 2026, almost seven times the level a year earlier.
International demand is the harder test. The HKD trades within a HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 band against the US dollar, which in theory makes an HKD token usable for cross-border settlement by firms with Hong Kong dollar obligations. Foreign users would still need a reason to hold HKD when dollar tokens dominate the market. Closer to home, the more immediate risk is fake tokens. HSBC says it has not issued any stablecoin yet and has no connection to tokens using its name, and it will run a public education series on scam prevention and redemption alongside the rollout.
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