Hong Kong regulator to issue first stablecoin licenses in March 2026

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has moved from rulemaking into implementation and is preparing to grant the first licences that will legally permit entities to issue regulated stablecoins from March 2026. The HKMA says approvals will be deliberately limited at the outset, reflecting a cautious, staged approach rather than broad market liberalisation. Review work is reportedly near completion and reviewers are prioritising applicants’ real-world use cases, operational risk controls, anti-money-laundering safeguards and the quality and liquidity of backing assets. Regulators have also flagged that any issuer planning regional activity must meet Hong Kong’s standards for cross-border operations and information-sharing. The market response has been tangible — the HKMA received 36 submissions in the initial round — but public visibility remains low: the regulator’s live registry shows no approved issuers at present. That lack of listed issuers, together with reports that several applicants lacked technical maturity and AML readiness, suggests the HKMA will enforce a high bar, advantaging well-capitalised firms with established banking partnerships. Separately, policymakers are sequencing further rules on custody and over-the-counter trading, and implementing international tax-transparency measures such as those driven by the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework. Industry groups and some legislators have urged the government to calibrate enforcement — proposing ceilings on fines, safe-harbour language for directors who make reasonable compliance efforts, and mechanisms to reassign record-keeping to regulated service providers when operators exit. Hong Kong’s strategy is also being framed as an effort to act as a linking node between global finance, mainland manufacturing hubs and international crypto markets by combining common-law legal infrastructure, open capital flows and a dense banking cluster with nearby engineering capacity. The success of that pitch depends on operational details: proportionate reporting rules, clear custody standards and predictable enforcement will be critical to preserving the city’s appeal as a regulated gateway. Absent careful calibration, heavy-handed penalties or onerous reporting flows could push smaller providers offshore or concentrate issuance among a small number of incumbents. If the HKMA follows through on the timeline, March 2026 decisions will set de facto precedents for token design, reserve structures, custody arrangements and cross-jurisdictional cooperation.