Standard Chartered Gets Green Light for Hong Kong Dollar Stablecoin

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) has become the first bank authorized to distribute HKDAP, Hong Kong's first regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin. The bank will now provide a trusted channel for clients to access the token, which is issued by Anchorpoint Financial and redeems one-for-one with Hong Kong dollars.

The bank plans to use HKDAP for settling tokenized money market funds starting in the fourth quarter of 2026, as well as for internal bank transfers and cross-border payments. This move aims to make big business transactions faster and more efficient by allowing both sides of a trade to settle together at the same speed.

HKDAP is currently limited to selected institutional and corporate users, but Anchorpoint has said it could allow retail access as early as the end of 2026. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) gave out its first two issuer licenses to Anchorpoint and HSBC in April 2026.