Invest1 publisher2 min readPublished
HKMA takes Hong Kong's debt settlement platform on-chain around the clock by year end
The Securities and Futures Commission is drafting a digital-asset licensing regime alongside the upgrade, and the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin already in circulation totalled 522,000 tokens on August 19.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue said the Central Moneymarkets Unit, the debt-securities settlement platform the authority runs, will launch services by the end of 2026 offering 24-hour real-time on-chain settlement.
- The HKMA will study whether tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins can settle directly on the CMU, a platform designed to handle a digital Hong Kong dollar and a central bank digital currency.
- The SFC said it will introduce a new digital-asset licensing regime and, over the longer term, draw up a regulatory framework for tokenized investment products including tokenized gold and other real-world assets.
- Hong Kong licensed its first two stablecoin issuers in April 2026, HSBC and the Standard Chartered-led Anchorpoint Financial, whose HKDAP token had 522,000 units in circulation as of August 19.
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Why it matters
- decision The HKMA's study will decide whether licensed private stablecoins settle on the same platform as the central bank's own digital money. Every Hong Kong issuer's business case turns on the answer.
- constraint At about HK$522,000 outstanding, HKDAP cannot fund Standard Chartered's fourth-quarter tokenized fund settlement out of the existing float; each settlement needs fresh issuance or same-day recycling.
- capability Yuan-priced gold futures cleared in Hong Kong would give buyers a precious-metals contract that does not reference the US dollar, sitting next to the dollar contract HKEX restarted.
- exposure Licensed digital-asset firms in Hong Kong come under SFC custody oversight and its CrypTech surveillance tool, so suspicious trading in tokenized products becomes the regulator's to see.
HKDAP redeems one-for-one for Hong Kong dollars, and 522,000 tokens were outstanding on August 19, which works out to about HK$522,000 of float [9][10][15]. Standard Chartered leads Anchorpoint Financial, the venture that issues the token, and was the first bank to distribute it [8][9]. It plans to use HKDAP to settle tokenized money market funds in the fourth quarter [9].
Eddie Yue said at the Treasury Markets Summit on Wednesday that the Central Moneymarkets Unit's new services are due by the end of 2026 [1][2]. The platform is designed for a digital Hong Kong dollar and a central bank digital currency, and the private tokens are the subject of a study [3][4]. The announcement did not include a launch date for either official instrument [17]. Cryptopolitan reported that the first two issuer licences went out in April 2026 [8][16]. That leaves about eight months to the settlement deadline.
The SFC split its measures into a short-term batch and a medium-to-long-term batch, both aimed at deepening links between mainland China and global markets [5]. The licensing regime is the near-term piece, and the framework for tokenized investment products, tokenized gold included, sits in the longer one [6]. Gregory Yu said HKEX will launch yuan-denominated gold futures early next year [12]. Hong Kong Precious Metals Central Clearing, a state-owned company, has been trial-running central clearing for gold since July 2026 [14].
A float of HK$522,000 does not need round-the-clock settlement, and the HKMA has not claimed that it does: the deadline belongs to the platform and to the official money it is built for [2][3][15]. So the first test of demand is Standard Chartered's fourth-quarter fund settlement [9]. A token used for fund subscriptions can recycle the same HK$522,000 several times a day, though, in which case the August figure understates the traffic [15]. HSBC, licensed in April and still to issue, could open at a different order of size during the second half [8][11]. Compare HKDAP outstanding at the end of the year with 522,000 tokens on August 19 [10].
What to watch
- Whether HSBC issues its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin in the second half, and what float it opens with.
- Whether the HKMA's study concludes that tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins can settle directly on the CMU, and on what terms.
- The size of the tokenized money market fund settlement Standard Chartered plans to run on HKDAP in the fourth quarter.