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Anchorpoint Financial has begun institutional use of HKDAP, making the Standard Chartered-backed token the first Hong Kong dollar stablecoin issued under the city's licensing regime to reach live deployment. The move follows an April licence award and months of technical preparation that pushed the rollout past two earlier target dates.
Anchorpoint is a joint venture between Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), telecommunications group HKT, and Web3 firm Animoca Brands. It received one of the first two stablecoin issuer licences from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on April 10, 2026, alongside HSBC.
The starting point is institutional rather than retail by design. Anchorpoint has consistently described a business-to-business-to-consumer model in which recognised distributors, not the issuer, make the token available to corporate and institutional clients.
Standard Chartered's Greater China and North Asia CEO Mary Huen said businesses face practical difficulties in international settlement because traditional payment systems do not operate around the clock and often carry higher costs.
Key Takeaways
- HKDAP has entered institutional use, the first HKD stablecoin licensed under the Stablecoins Ordinance to go live.
- Anchorpoint holds one of two inaugural licences, granted by the HKMA on April 10, 2026 alongside HSBC.
- Every token is backed one-to-one by Hong Kong dollar reserves in segregated accounts.
- Distribution runs through approved partners, with OSL and HashKey widely expected as early candidates.
- Cross-border settlement is the priority use case, alongside tokenised asset transactions.
What Anchorpoint Built
HKDAP, short for HKD At Par, is a fiat-referenced stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar. Under the Stablecoins Ordinance, every token must be backed one-to-one by high-quality Hong Kong dollar reserves held in segregated accounts, with ongoing disclosure and customer asset protections.
Technical groundwork ran through the spring and summer. Anchorpoint completed an Ethereum mainnet issuance and transfer test in May and has continued testing public blockchain infrastructure to support use cases beyond basic issuance.
The distribution structure explains the institutional starting point. Rather than issuing directly to end users, Anchorpoint appoints recognised distributors who make HKDAP available to their own corporate and institutional clients, with the distributor list to be disclosed after the commercial launch.
Market reporting has repeatedly identified OSL Group and HashKey Exchange as likely early distributors, since both operate licensed virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong. Huen declined to confirm those reports, saying Anchorpoint would announce the list itself.
Why the Timeline Slipped
The rollout took considerably longer than initially signalled. When the HKMA granted the first licences in April, Anchorpoint said it planned to begin phased issuance during the second quarter, a target it missed.
Local media then reported a joint announcement before the end of July, citing market sources, and that date passed as well. Huen subsequently told the Hong Kong Economic Journal that an announcement would come during August.
Nothing in the public record suggests the delays reflected regulatory difficulty. Huen said development work continued through the months following approval, with the extended timeline attributed to building infrastructure for use cases beyond simple issuance.
The measured pace fits the regulator's approach. The HKMA granted only two licences in the first round despite interest from dozens of prospective applicants, signalling a preference for controlled rollout over speed.
Why This Matters for Stablecoins
HKDAP is a test of whether non-dollar stablecoins can find genuine demand. Dollar-pegged tokens account for more than 99% of stablecoin market capitalisation, so a Hong Kong dollar token backed by a global bank and supervised by the HKMA is close to the strongest possible setup for a local-currency alternative.
The use case Anchorpoint has emphasised is where that demand is most plausible. Cross-border settlement between businesses is exactly the friction point that continuous, programmable money addresses, and it does not require retail adoption to generate volume.
Hong Kong's approach also contrasts with that of its regional peers. Japan built yen stablecoins on existing electronic payment instrument rules, producing corporate deployments like the one in our AZ-COM Maruwa JPYC analysis, while Hong Kong wrote a dedicated ordinance first and licensed issuers under it.
The sequencing matters for the wider argument. Hong Kong moved from legislation in August 2025 to licensing in April 2026 to live institutional issuance inside a single year, which is faster end-to-end execution than most jurisdictions have managed.
What to Watch Next
The distributor list is the first meaningful disclosure still outstanding. Whether OSL and HashKey are joined by banks, payment processors, or corporate treasury platforms will indicate how quickly HKDAP reaches actual transaction flow.
HSBC is the second variable. Hong Kong's other inaugural licensee has its own stablecoin plans, and whether it follows within months or lets the gap widen will show if the regime produces a competitive market or a single-issuer experiment.
The HKMA's second licensing round is a further open question. The regulator has declined to give a timeline, which keeps the field limited to the initial two issuers for the foreseeable future.
Volume is ultimately the only metric that settles the question. Institutional settlement and tokenised asset transactions are credible use cases, and whether corporates integrate HKDAP into existing workflows will determine if this becomes infrastructure or a well-regulated demonstration, a distinction we track across issuers in our stablecoin infrastructure landscape.
Conclusion
Hong Kong now has a live, licensed, bank-backed local-currency stablecoin, which completes the loop the Stablecoins Ordinance opened a year ago. For a jurisdiction competing to be Asia's digital asset hub, moving from legislation to live issuance in twelve months is the proof point the framework was built to deliver.
The institutional starting point is a strength rather than a limitation. Corporate cross-border settlement is where a Hong Kong dollar token has a defensible case, and it avoids the retail adoption problem that has stalled other local-currency experiments.
What HKDAP has to prove now is demand. It has the licence, the bank, the regulator, and the rails, and if it still struggles to generate volume, that will say something uncomfortable about appetite for stablecoins that are not dollars, a question we examined alongside the yen settlement work in our Ondo and SBI tokenisation coverage.
FAQ:
1. What is HKDAP?
HKDAP, short for HKD At Par, is a Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture backed by Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT, and Animoca Brands. Every token is backed one-to-one by high-quality Hong Kong dollar reserves held in segregated accounts under HKMA supervision.
2. Who licensed HKDAP?
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted Anchorpoint one of the first two stablecoin issuer licences on April 10, 2026, under the Stablecoins Ordinance that took effect on August 1, 2025. HSBC received the other inaugural licence, and the HKMA has not announced a timeline for a second licensing round.
3. How will businesses access HKDAP?
Anchorpoint uses a business-to-business-to-consumer model, appointing recognised distributors who make the token available to their own corporate and institutional clients rather than issuing directly to end users. Market reports have identified OSL Group and HashKey Exchange as likely early distributors, though Anchorpoint has said it will announce the list itself.
4. Why did the HKDAP launch take longer than expected?
Anchorpoint initially planned a phased issuance during the second quarter of 2026; then local reports pointed to an end-of-July announcement, and both targets passed. Standard Chartered's Greater China and North Asia CEO Mary Huen said development continued throughout, with the extended timeline reflecting work on public blockchain infrastructure for use cases beyond basic issuance.
5. What will HKDAP be used for?
Early use cases centre on institutional settlement, cross-border business payments, and tokenised asset transactions rather than consumer spending. Mary Huen has pointed to the limits of traditional payment systems, which do not operate around the clock and often involve higher costs, as the specific friction HKDAP is intended to address.
Disclaimer:
This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice; no material herein should be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument, and readers should conduct their own independent research or consult a qualified professional.
