Anchorpoint — a joint venture backed by Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT and Animoca Brands — has won a stablecoin issuer licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and plans to roll out a regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, HKDAP (HKD At Par), in Q2 2026.
What Anchorpoint will launch
- HKDAP is slated to be issued in a phased rollout starting with institutions and eventually opening to retail users. Anchorpoint positions the token as “a secure, accessible, and transparent digital currency” for digital markets.
- Under Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance (effective August 1, 2025), each HKDAP token must be backed 1:1 by high-quality, highly liquid Hong Kong dollar reserves. Anchorpoint says those reserves will be held in segregated accounts in line with the law.
Why it matters
- The HKMA licence makes Anchorpoint one of Hong Kong’s first authorised issuers of fiat-referenced stablecoins alongside HSBC, signalling the city’s move to bring tokenised money into a tightly regulated framework.
- Animoca Brands’ group president Evan Auyang framed the coin as core infrastructure, not speculation. He told National Business Daily that stablecoins are “the bridge between native and enterprise Web3,” arguing a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin is essential for taking mainland assets global and supporting games, trade, and 24/7 settlement.
Regulatory context and global momentum
- Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance is among the world’s most prescriptive regimes: full 1:1 reserve backing, asset segregation, strict liquidity requirements and ongoing disclosure for any HKD-referenced tokens offered to the public.
- The HKMA had aimed to approve the first HKD licences by March 2026 but approved Anchorpoint and HSBC in April instead — describing the move as advancing “a secure tokenised medium of exchange for the digital economy” and facilitating international payments while avoiding the opacity that has dogged some parts of the global stablecoin market as overall supply tops $300 billion.
How this fits into a bigger picture
- The HKDAP launch comes amid a global race to anchor regulated stablecoin activity: Singapore is running pilots, the EU has brought MiCA-style rules for fiat-backed tokens into force, and now the European Central Bank has publicly backed a European Commission plan to shift supervision of systemically important crypto-asset service providers and key trading venues from national regulators to ESMA (the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority).
- The ECB, citing cross-border risks and a patchwork of 27 national regimes, said direct ESMA supervision is warranted—but warned ESMA will need more staff and resources and that the proposed law could take months of negotiation. Observers call the change the biggest structural shift since MiCA took effect at the end of 2024.
Bottom line
Regulators in Hong Kong and Europe are moving stablecoins and large crypto platforms from fringe innovation toward bank-grade, centrally supervised infrastructure. Anchorpoint’s HKDAP is an early example of how tokenised money could be brought into mainstream finance under tight oversight — a sign that stablecoins are being recast as core plumbing for global digital markets rather than purely speculative assets.
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