In brief
- HSBC named its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HSBC RedCoin on 30 September and plans to launch it in the second half of 2026.
- At launch the coin will only be offered through PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile App, starting with transfers between people and payments to merchants.
- A survey of 1,060 HSBC customers found 74% recognise at least one stablecoin use case, but 26% think stablecoins are issued by governments.
HSBC has picked a name for its Hong Kong stablecoin. On 30 September the bank announced HSBC RedCoin, a Hong Kong dollar token it plans to launch in the second half of this year under the licence it received in April. The coin has not been issued yet.
When it goes live, RedCoin will only be available through PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile App. The bank did not give a launch date or name the blockchain the token will run on. It also warned that it has no connection to any fraudulent stablecoins that use its name.
Retail payments come first
HSBC describes a phased rollout. The first use cases are person-to-person transfers and person-to-merchant payments. Wholesale corporate and institutional uses are meant to follow “soon”, without a timetable.
“Launching our coin is just the beginning,” said Maggie Ng, HSBC’s chief executive for Hong Kong and head of retail banking and wealth there. The bank will also run an education series on its apps, website and social media, focused on scam prevention and how redemption works.
That plan responds to the bank’s own survey. HSBC polled 1,060 customers aged 18 to 64 online between 18 and 28 June. Asked about uses, 57% named digital asset trading and tokenised investments, 53% person-to-person transfers, and 52% each cross-border remittances and merchant payments.
Understanding is patchier. Only 60% correctly described a stablecoin as a fiat-backed digital asset. Some 26% assumed stablecoins are government-issued, and 10% thought they pay interest, a feature HSBC says is not part of Hong Kong’s current framework. Respondents said stronger regulatory clarity (62%) and more education (55%) would do most to build their confidence, ahead of fraud protection and easy conversion to cash. For background on how these tokens hold their peg, see our explainer on whether stablecoins can tackle volatility.
Hong Kong’s two licensed issuers
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted the first two stablecoin issuer licences on 10 April, to HSBC’s Hong Kong bank and to Anchorpoint Financial, under the Stablecoins Ordinance. According to their business plans, both intended to launch within a few months. The HKMA keeps a public register of licensed issuers and tells the public to check it before using any token that claims a link to a licensee.
Anchorpoint, a Standard Chartered subsidiary set up with HKT and Animoca Brands, moved first. Its HKDAP coin is in a phased rollout aimed at institutions, and Standard Chartered became its first bank distributor on 24 August, with tokenised money market fund settlement planned for the fourth quarter.
HSBC is taking the opposite route, starting with consumers on apps they already use. Banks elsewhere are still at the testing stage: in the US, Morgan Stanley set up a digital asset lab to test stablecoins and DeFi. The next thing to watch is RedCoin’s launch date, which HSBC says will follow “in due course”.
