The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
HSBC launched a Tokenised Deposit Service for corporate clients in Hong Kong, starting with real-time HKD and USD payments between a client's own wallets at HSBC Hong Kong.
- Status
- Live
- Announced
- (announcement)
- Stage
- Production
- Chain or network
- HSBC's own DLT network (private; technology not disclosed)
- Participants
- Ant International
- Next review
Scorecard
As of the review on . Changes since the previous review are marked. How pilots are scored
| Ledger | Private ledger |
|---|---|
| Settlement | Tokenised deposits |
| Access | Whitelisted institutions or investors |
| Legal standing | Token is the legal record |
| Scale | Repeat |
Decisions
Expanded
HSBC reported its first USD cross-border tokenised deposit transaction, for Ant International entities in Hong Kong and Singapore, in September 2025.
Source: about.hsbc.com.sg
Expanded
HSBC connected the service to the HKMA's EnsembleTX interoperability layer and moved HKD 3.8 million of tokenised deposits for Ant International to another domestic bank.
Source: about.hsbc.com.hk
Expanded
HSBC extended the service to the United States, alongside Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg and the UK.
Source: about.us.hsbc.com
Expanded
HSBC and Standard Chartered executed the first interbank transaction on Swift's blockchain-based ledger, with the obligations recorded on HSBC's Tokenised Deposit Service and netted on Swift's ledger before final settlement through existing systems.
Source: about.hsbc.com.hk
Review history
Live Production
Six months after launch the service runs for corporate clients with no end date, has added cross-border and cross-bank transfers, and is live in four markets. Legal standing is native because the tokens are HSBC deposit liabilities; ledger is private because HSBC does not name the technology.
Evidence: about.hsbc.com.hk, about.hsbc.com.sg
Live Production
HSBC listed Hong Kong among live markets when it launched in the US in April 2026. In August 2026 HSBC connected the service to Swift's ledger, with Standard Chartered and then UOB as counterparties. In September 2026 ChinaAMC (HK) said it tokenises its digital money market fund's deposits using HSBC's capability. HSBC publishes no volumes, so scale stays repeat.
Evidence: about.us.hsbc.com, about.hsbc.com.hk, chinaamc.com.hk
What was announced
On 22 May 2025 HSBC launched its Tokenised Deposit Service in Hong Kong, which it called the city’s first bank-led, blockchain-based settlement service. The first phase covered real-time, always-on HKD and USD payments between wallets a corporate client holds at HSBC Hong Kong. Ant International was the first client. HSBC said the service was designed to work with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) tokenisation infrastructure, including Project Ensemble.
How it works
Client deposits at HSBC are represented as tokens on HSBC’s own network. HSBC has not said which ledger technology it uses, so ledger is recorded as private. The token is the deposit itself: ChinaAMC (HK), describing its use of the service, says the tokenised deposits remain conventional bank deposits in all legal and prudential respects, so legal is native and settlement is tokenised-deposit. Only onboarded corporate clients can hold wallets, so access is whitelisted.
Record so far
HSBC made no dated commitments at launch, so the entry has no claims.
In September 2025 HSBC completed its first USD cross-border transaction between Ant International entities in Hong Kong and Singapore, announced on 9 October 2025. On 13 November 2025, the day EnsembleTX launched, HSBC connected the service to the HKMA’s interoperability layer and moved HKD 3.8 million for Ant International to its wallet at another Hong Kong bank. By then the service was also live in the UK and Luxembourg. The entry records production from that point: the service is offered to corporate clients beyond the first one, has no end date, and runs in several markets.
On 13 April 2026 HSBC launched the service in the United States and listed Hong Kong among its live markets. On 20 August 2026 HSBC and Standard Chartered executed the first interbank transaction on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger: the obligations were recorded on HSBC’s service and on Standard Chartered’s tokenised-deposit infrastructure, and Swift’s ledger matched and netted them before final settlement through existing systems. HSBC says the service is live in six markets, now including the UAE. On 26 August UOB completed Hong Kong dollar transactions with HSBC on the same ledger. On 21 September 2026 ChinaAMC (HK) announced that the underlying deposits of its digital money market fund are tokenised using HSBC’s capability. HSBC has not published transaction volumes or client counts.
What to watch
Published volumes or client numbers for Hong Kong would move scale to sustained. The HKMA plans to settle EnsembleTX interbank transfers in tokenised central bank money around the end of 2026, which would change how HSBC’s cross-bank transfers settle.