Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan: The first batch of "stablecoin licenses" will be issued as early as Q1 this year

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po stated that Hong Kong, as an international financial center, adopts an active yet prudent approach to developing digital assets. To date, it has issued licenses to 11 virtual asset trading platforms and is expected to issue the first batch of stablecoin licenses in the first quarter of this year.
According to a report by South China Morning Post, on January 20, during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Paul Chan pointed out that Hong Kong will promote a responsible and sustainable cryptocurrency market based on the principles of “same activity, same risk, same regulation.”
In addition, Hong Kong is actively promoting tokenization development, including issuing three batches of tokenized green bonds totaling approximately $2.1 billion, and launching a regulatory sandbox to encourage application innovation.
Paul Chan mentioned that finance and technology can mutually promote each other. Taking digital assets as an example, this financial innovation not only enhances transparency, efficiency, inclusiveness, and risk management of financial services but also more effectively guides capital into the real economy. Moreover, finance is also a key force supporting and empowering technological development.
Paul Chan stated that Hong Kong’s goal is to build an integrated ecosystem covering stablecoins, exchanges, and tokenized assets. In the context of increasingly fierce global competition, digital finance is positioned as a key pillar of Hong Kong’s growth strategy.