Hong Kong's two leading financial regulators have laid out plans to move core market functions onto blockchain infrastructure and to build new licensing rules for digital assets. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is upgrading its main settlement system to run on-chain around the clock, while the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is developing a fresh licensing regime for the digital asset sector. Together, the two programs set out how the city intends to run regulated financial activity on blockchain-based rails.

HKMA to take settlement system fully on-chain

Speaking at the Treasury Markets Summit, HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU), the debt-securities settlement platform operated by the monetary authority, will roll out new services by the end of this year. The services are intended to provide round-the-clock, real-time settlement on-chain. The 24/7 design departs from conventional post-trade infrastructure, which typically settles transactions only in fixed business-day windows, so deals could finalize continuously instead of waiting for the next settlement cycle.

According to Yue, the upgraded platform is designed to handle a digital Hong Kong dollar and a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The monetary authority has been piloting a digital Hong Kong dollar through its e-HKD program. He added that the HKMA will also study whether tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins can be settled directly on the CMU.

SFC sets short- and long-term digital asset agenda

Separately, the SFC published its strategy for carrying out Hong Kong's first Five-Year Plan and the Chief Executive's 2026 Policy Address. The commission split its measures into a short-term batch and a medium-to-long-term batch, both with the stated aim of deepening the links between mainland China and global markets.

The SFC said it will introduce a new licensing regime — the rulebook determining which firms can legally provide digital asset services in Hong Kong — and, over the longer term, draw up a regulatory framework for tokenized investment products that would cover tokenized gold other real-world assets (RWAs).

On financial security, the regulator said it will strengthen oversight of how digital assets are held in custody and deploy a market-surveillance tool, known as CrypTech, to catch suspicious market activity. Custody, meaning how an intermediary safeguards client tokens, became a regulatory priority worldwide after high-profile platform collapses in the sector. The SFC also plans to tighten anti-money-laundering monitoring and intends to use artificial intelligence across its oversight systems over time.

Stablecoin rollout gathers pace

The plans follow the HKMA's issuance of its first two stablecoin issuer licenses in April 2026, to HSBC and to Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture led by Standard Chartered together with HKT and Animoca Brands. The licenses place both firms' token issuance under direct HKMA supervision.

Anchorpoint's HKDAP, a token that redeems one-for-one for Hong Kong dollars, went live first. Standard Chartered became the first bank to distribute it and plans to use it for settling tokenized money market funds in the fourth quarter. Circulation has so far remained small, at 522,000 tokens as of August 19, a level that underscores how early adoption still is. HSBC has not yet issued its own Hong Kong dollar stablecoin but plans to do so during the second half of the year.

HKEX moves on yuan-priced gold

In a related development, Gregory Yu, head of markets at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX: 0388), said the exchange plans to launch gold futures denominated in Chinese yuan instead of U.S. dollars early next year. Hong Kong is the principal offshore hub for yuan trading and clearing, the market that yuan-priced contracts would draw on. HKEX has already restarted a U.S.-dollar gold contract and wants to build more precious-metals and commodities products priced in offshore yuan. That ambition builds on a central clearing system for gold that Hong Kong Precious Metals Central Clearing Limited, a state-owned company, began trial-running in July 2026, and it runs parallel to the SFC's longer-term plan to regulate tokenized gold products.