{"id":70541,"date":"2026-02-03T11:46:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T11:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=70541"},"modified":"2026-02-03T11:46:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T11:46:36","slug":"hong-kong-prepares-to-grant-limited-batch-of-stablecoin-licenses-in-march-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=70541","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong Prepares To Grant Limited Batch Of Stablecoin Licenses In March \u2013 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hong Kong financial authorities have announced that they will soon grant the first, limited batch of stablecoin provider licenses as the review process for applications is almost completed.<\/p>\n

HKMA To Grant Limited Stablecoin Licenses Soon<\/h2>\n

On Monday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)\u2019s Chief Executive, Eddie Yue, announced<\/a> that the regulatory agency is preparing to grant the first batch of the highly anticipated stablecoin licenses next month.<\/p>\n

At a Legislative Council meeting, Yue affirmed that the financial authority expects to issue a \u201cvery small number\u201d of stablecoin issuer licenses in March, according to a Reuters report.<\/p>\n

In August, the HKMA enacted the Stablecoins Ordinance, which directs any individual or entity seeking to issue any fiat-referenced stablecoin (FRS) in Hong Kong, or any Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)-denominated token, to obtain a license from the regulator.<\/p>\n

Local news outlets have reported that more than 30 companies have applied for the license, including the overseas arm of Chinese mainland financial technology giant Ant Group and logistics technology firm Reitar Logtech.<\/p>\n

In December, legal experts suggested that Hong Kong\u2019s ambitions to become a key regulated hub for stablecoins could be clouded by the People\u2019s Bank of China\u2019s explicit crackdown on the sector.<\/p>\n

As reported<\/a> by Bitcoinist, top financial regulators affirmed that stablecoins don\u2019t qualify as legal tender in the mainland, which could delay the original early 2026 schedule and affect the HKMA\u2019s approval of projects involving the yuan or mainland Chinese institutions.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Hong Kong\u2019s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po, recently confirmed<\/a> the regulators\u2019 plan to grant stablecoin issuers licenses in the first quarter of the year at the World Economic Forum in Davos.<\/p>\n

During a Monday media briefing, HKMA\u2019s Chief Executive reportedly noted that their application review process is near its completion. Yue also highlighted that the regulator is focusing on use cases, risk management, anti-money laundering (AML) measures, and asset backing.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he asserted that licensed issuers must comply with local regulations for cross-border activities, but added that \u201cmutual recognition arrangements with other jurisdictions could be explored in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hong Kong Continues Crypto Regulation Efforts<\/h2>\n

Hong Kong has been actively developing a comprehensive framework to support the expansion of the digital assets industry as part of its long-term strategy to become a global crypto hub.<\/p>\n

Notably, financial authorities have been exploring<\/a> rules to enable insurance companies to invest in cryptocurrencies and the infrastructure sector. In addition, the jurisdiction is among the 76 markets committed to implementing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development\u2019s (OECD) new global standard for exchanging tax information related to crypto assets.<\/p>\n

The upcoming crypto reporting framework, the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), is intended to bring crypto users across borders under global tax transparency rules, thereby preventing tax evasion. Hong Kong is set to begin its first cross-border exchanges of crypto reporting data in 2028.<\/p>\n

However, the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association (HKSFPA) has expressed<\/a> its concerns about the implementation of the OECD\u2019s CARF and the related amendments made to Hong Kong\u2019s Common Reporting Standard (CRS).<\/p>\n

The group noted that it mostly supports the proposals, but urged regulators to ease the record-keeping requirements for dissolved entities and the uncapped per-account penalties for minor technical errors. The Professionals Association warned that these elements of the CARF and CRS amendments could create operational and liability risks for market participants.<\/p>\n

\"stablecoin,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hong Kong financial authorities have announced that they will soon grant the first, limited batch of stablecoin provider licenses as the review process for applications is almost completed. HKMA To Grant Limited Stablecoin Licenses Soon On Monday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)\u2019s Chief Executive, Eddie Yue, announced that the regulatory agency is preparing to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-70541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}