Hong Kong will begin issuing its first stablecoin issuer licenses in March 2026 under the Stablecoins Ordinance that took effect in August 2025. The licensing perimeter covers fiat-referenced coins issued in Hong Kong and HKD-referenced tokens issued outside Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has received dozens of submissions and plans to approve a small pilot cohort at launch. The rollout is phased and supervisory, with initial approvals intended to validate redemption reliability, reserve integrity, and operational resilience under live conditions and with ongoing supervisory engagement before and after licensing. Issuers must hold 100 percent of liabilities in high-quality liquid assets segregated at authorized institutions or equivalent custodians, perform daily reconciliations, and provide independent verification of custody and asset quality. Redemption must be executable at par with clear settlement timeframes and tested playbooks for stress events and large redemption days. Capital, governance, independent risk and audit functions, incident response and business continuity plans are required, and boards must assume direct accountability for risk appetite. Supervisory requirements include AML and sanctions controls, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, wallet and counterparty screening, cybersecurity standards, vendor risk oversight, recovery testing, ongoing reporting to the HKMA, and external audits covering financial statements, reserves, and technology controls. Issuers must disclose redemption terms, fees, reserve composition, and the role of custodians or subcustodians. The regime applies extraterritorially to HKD-referenced tokens targeting Hong Kong users. Hong Kong reports more than HK$14 billion in digital assets under custody and reported year-over-year custody growth around 180 percent in some local figures. New dealer and custodian regimes are expected by summer 2026 to complete the infrastructure stack for issuance, trading, and safekeeping. Mainland China continues to prohibit crypto trading and exchange operations, creating a regulatory split with Hong Kong. The HKMA has encouraged pre-filing contact, and the regulator has urged applicants to design reserve architectures that meet the 100 percent HQLA standard, implement daily reconciliation and independent custody verification, build capital and governance structures, embed AML and cybersecurity controls, and plan for ongoing reporting and external audits. Notable applicants include major regional firms, and the first cohort is expected to start with limited issuance and reserve mixes designed to demonstrate redemption discipline. 

Source: https://web3businessnews.com/policy/hong-kong-stablecoin-licenses-2026/

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