Source: RWA Dashi Ma

1. The strictest global regulation, how to define "real-name"?

On August 1, 2025, Hong Kong's "Stablecoin Regulation" officially came into effect, with the strong real-name system (KYC) causing a seismic shift in the industry. According to the new regulations:

• All stablecoin holders must undergo identity verification, and issuers must retain user identity data for at least 5 years;
• Anonymous wallets and DeFi protocols are prohibited from accessing, and non-custodial wallets must be assessed as "reliable" by the issuer to receive funds;
• Each transfer must comply with the "Travel Rule", mandating the transmission of identity information of both parties involved in the transaction, consistent with banking compliance standards.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority Assistant Chief Executive Chen Jinghong admitted that this arrangement is stricter than the previous "whitelist" system, and while there may be moderate relaxation in the future if technology matures, the initial phase will completely end the free experience of "using a wallet as soon as it's opened" for stablecoins.

2. Users and the industry: The end of free circulation?

The real-name system directly impacts user experience and market structure:

• User thresholds rise sharply: Each user must submit identification, making the process cumbersome. Global user access is restricted, and non-Hong Kong users who are not included in the policy may be unable to use stablecoins issued in Hong Kong.
• On-chain ecosystem fragmentation: Stablecoins cannot directly connect to DeFi protocols, and decentralized wallets are excluded from the compliance system. This fundamentally diverges from the model of USDT and USDC, which support free transfer and seamless integration with DeFi.
• Small and medium institutions exit: License application fees range from 10 million to 15 million HKD, coupled with a minimum paid-in capital of 25 million HKD, making it affordable only for banks and tech giants. Some cryptocurrency OTC stores have suspended operations due to concerns over compliance risks.

3. Regulatory logic: Why choose the "strictest path"?

The core demand behind the Monetary Authority's push for a real-name system is risk prevention:

• Anti-money laundering (AML) as a priority: By binding identities and tracing transactions, it cuts off anonymous fund flows, preventing terrorist financing and cross-border money laundering;
• Protection of financial sovereignty: Positioning stablecoins as "quasi-sovereign settlement tools" to serve controlled scenarios such as cross-border trade and institutional clearing, avoiding becoming targets for speculative trading;
• Isolation of systemic risk: Following the collapse of TerraUSD in 2022, global regulators are highly vigilant about algorithmic stablecoins and over-issuance risks. Hong Kong has directly banned algorithmic stablecoins, requiring 100% high-quality liquid assets to back them and enforcing a T+1 redemption mechanism.

4. Controversy focus: What is Hong Kong sacrificing?

Despite clear regulatory goals, industry criticism of the real-name system focuses on three points:

Deviation from the essence of Web3: Permissionless access is the core spirit of blockchain, while strong KYC and licensing systems degrade stablecoins to "Web2.5 financial tools";

Concerns over international competitiveness: Compared to the EU's MiCA (which allows small anonymous wallets) and the U.S. "innovation exemption" policy, Hong Kong's extreme conservatism may force native projects to move to more open regions like Singapore and the UAE;

Limitations on scenario innovation: Open financial applications like DeFi and on-chain contracts are excluded, reducing stablecoins to a digital extension of traditional payments, losing programmability and ecological expansion space.

5. Future: A rebalancing of compliance and innovation

Hong Kong's real-name system experiment is essentially a difficult trade-off between regulatory certainty and market freedom. The Monetary Authority has signaled that if on-chain tracking and address labeling technologies mature, there may be moderate relaxation of requirements in the future.

In the short term, Hong Kong sacrifices some innovative vitality in exchange for the stability of its financial system; in the long term, it must answer a key question: As other regions of the world gradually accept the native logic of on-chain finance, can Hong Kong's "golden regulatory cage" avoid becoming an "innovation island"?

Within the walls of financial security, can the next generation of towering trees grow? Time will be the only judge.

Note: The first batch of stablecoin license applications will close on September 30, 2025, with the first license expected to be issued in early 2026. Institutions such as JD Coin Chain, Standard Chartered Bank, and Yuan Coin Technology may be among the first to be approved in sandbox testing.

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