The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced that the Monetary Authority has granted stablecoin issuer licences to Anchorpoint Financial Technology Limited and HSBC under the Stablecoins Ordinance. A total of 36 institutions applied in the first phase, and the two licensees plan to issue Hong Kong dollar stablecoins first, with business covering cross-border payments, local payments, trading in tokenised assets and innovative applications. Regulated stablecoins in Hong Kong are expected to be launched progressively from mid-year to the second half of this year.
Why read this: The article lists the approval outcome of 36 applications with only 2 granted, and the use cases of the two licensees, allowing verification of how high the licensing threshold is.