TheMonsoon Ledger

Weekly Brief No. 3 ·

Hong Kong's stablecoin on Ethereum pays its first invoices, and the Policy Address gives it a job

Payment Asia used HKDAP, the licensed Hong Kong dollar stablecoin on Ethereum, to settle real business payments. Two days later the Policy Address committed to stablecoin trading on licensed platforms and stablecoin settlement of tokenised money market funds, alongside HKMA-run infrastructure for tokenised deposits and CBDC.

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In the week of 14 September 2026 HKDAP, the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin that runs on Ethereum mainnet, settled its first announced business payments. On 16 September the Chief Executive’s Policy Address committed the government to letting regulated stablecoins trade on licensed platforms and settle tokenised money market funds, and set year-end dates for tokenised Exchange Fund Bills and round-the-clock CBDC settlement.

HKDAP moves from test transfers to invoices

On 14 September Payment Asia, OSL and Anchorpoint announced two business payment flows in HKDAP. Payment Asia paid the logistics firm ShipAny for delivering point-of-sale terminals, and paid for staff hotel, day-stay and workspace bookings through the booking agency Flow. The release describes the full cycle: fiat funding, minting, the business payment, same-day reconciliation, redemption and burn. Anchorpoint issued and redeemed the tokens, and OSL handled distribution and settlement. No amounts were disclosed.

HKDAP is issued by Anchorpoint Financial, a Standard Chartered-led joint venture with HKT and Animoca Brands, under one of the HKMA’s first two stablecoin issuer licences. It is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum mainnet, and every holder’s wallet must be whitelisted by an authorised distributor before it can transact (pilot entry, Anchorpoint user alert). Beta Access, open since 12 August, is limited to institutions, corporates and professional investors.

These are the first payments for goods and services that any HKDAP participant has announced. Earlier activity was test transfers, and minting and redemption through distributors. The payments ran on Ethereum mainnet, between whitelisted wallets, with a licensed issuer and a licensed platform at either end. That is the design Anchorpoint chose under Hong Kong’s rules: a public chain with a closed holder list. It shows a licensed stablecoin can complete an ordinary business payment on Ethereum. It does not yet show that businesses outside a partner’s own supply chain will hold one.

Regulation

The Chief Executive’s 2026 Policy Address, delivered on 16 September, sets out two tracks for tokenised money in Hong Kong.

The first track is regulated stablecoins, which in practice today means HKDAP on Ethereum. The government will “promote the trading of regulated stablecoins on licensed virtual-asset trading platforms and their use in the settlement of tokenised money market funds” (para 49). The SFC already lets licensed platforms list licensed stablecoins without prior approval (Wire item). Settlement of tokenised funds in stablecoins would be new: Hong Kong’s retail tokenised money market fund, ChinaAMC’s, takes subscriptions in fiat.

The second track is HKMA-run infrastructure. The HKMA plans CBDC settlement and 24/7 operation under EnsembleTX “by around the end of this year” and more uses for tokenised deposits (para 50), including trade-finance pilots with the Mainland by year-end (para 99). It will test tokenised Exchange Fund Bills, the HKMA’s own short-term paper, by year-end, so banks can use more than HK$1.3 trillion of them round the clock (para 35). CMU OmniClear will set up a digital asset platform this year for issuing and settling digital bonds (para 35), and government digital bond issuance becomes regular, with settlement in digital currencies (para 35).

The Policy Address also commits to tokenised gold and other real-world assets on licensed platforms (para 49), and to the SFC starting its digital-asset custody surveillance system in the second half of 2026 (para 50).

I expect both tracks to run, split by investor. Retail investors and users of licensed crypto platforms will settle in licensed stablecoins, which the Policy Address ties to tokenised money market funds (para 49) and which the SFC already lets those platforms list. Institutions will settle in tokenised deposits and, from around year-end, CBDC on EnsembleTX, the HKMA’s pilot for settling tokenised assets (para 50). A subscription to ChinaAMC’s tokenised fund was already paid there with a tokenised deposit in November 2025 (pilot entry). The Policy Address does not say the tracks divide this way; this is my reading of paragraphs 49 and 50 side by side. The first tokenised fund subscription paid in a licensed stablecoin, and CBDC settlement going live on EnsembleTX, will show whether the split holds.

Pilots

What to watch

  • CMU OmniClear’s digital asset platform, due this year, and tokenised Exchange Fund Bill tests by year-end.
  • CBDC settlement and 24/7 operation on EnsembleTX, around year-end.
  • HKDAP retail access, which Anchorpoint targets for as early as end-2026 (pilot entry).
  • MAS’s stablecoin consultation closes on 16 October 2026 (Wire).