Hong Kong Stablecoin Licensing: New Requirements from the HKMA
Date: 2025-06-26 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: IN WORLD
The head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Eddie Yue announced that to obtain a license, issuers must provide a detailed business plan with a clear description of the use cases for the issued stablecoins. In addition, the application must outline the methods for managing reserves that guarantee the stability of the tokens.
An important condition for licensing is that the issuer has a reserve capital of at least 25 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately $3.1 million). At the same time, banks and other financial institutions may be exempt from this requirement, given their existing capital standards.
In addition, issuers are required to provide evidence of compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and describe the information security measures they have implemented to protect their operations.
Interestingly, participation in the local regulatory sandbox is not a prerequisite for obtaining a license. According to Eddie Yue, even those companies that have been tested in this sandbox do not have an automatic guarantee of license approval. The first licensed stablecoins are planned to be used in cross-border trade and Web3 applications.
So far, the Hong Kong sandbox has received more than 40 applications from various market players. Among them are large companies such as JD CoinChain Technology, Yuanbi Innovation Technology, as well as a consortium uniting Ant Group, Standard Chartered and Hong Kong Telecom. These participants have already tested stablecoin issuance models and business processes in a controlled environment.
It is worth noting that in May 2025, the Hong Kong Legislative Council approved the Fiat-Backed Stablecoins Regulation Act. This law will officially come into force on August 1 and will require all issuers to obtain a relevant license from the HKMA to legally operate in the territory.
Thus, Hong Kong regulators aim to create a transparent and regulated environment for stablecoins, which should increase the confidence of investors and market participants, as well as stimulate the development of innovative financial products in the region.
