On August 1, the highly anticipated "Stablecoin Regulation" in Hong Kong officially came into effect, earning the title of "the world's strictest stablecoin legislation" due to its stringent real-name system and high entry barriers. Hong Kong has also made significant strides in the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), with the release of the first RWA industry white paper and the launch of the RWA registration platform. This "ice and fire" scenario not only reveals Hong Kong's cautious yet innovative approach to digital asset regulation but also reflects the accelerating differentiation in the global crypto landscape: the United States across the ocean is sending strong positive signals, while Hong Kong and Singapore are showing more defensive postures alongside innovation.
I. Hong Kong's New Stablecoin Regulations: The World's Strictest "Real-Name System" and High Barriers
The official implementation of Hong Kong's "Stablecoin Regulation" marks the establishment of the world's first comprehensive regulatory framework for fiat-backed stablecoins, with far-reaching implications.
Mandatory Licensing and High Capital Requirements: The regulation requires any institution issuing fiat-backed stablecoins in Hong Kong, or any issuer of stablecoins pegged to the Hong Kong dollar overseas, to implement a mandatory licensing system, with a minimum paid-up capital of HKD 25 million.
100% Full Reserve and Independent Custody: It mandates full reserves, meaning issuers must allocate 100% of reserve assets to highly liquid assets such as cash and short-term government bonds, which must be independently held by licensed banks. Each type of stablecoin must have a separate reserve asset portfolio to ensure it is segregated from other reserve asset portfolios.
Stringent KYC Real-Name System: In the "Guidelines for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Applicable to Licensed Stablecoin Issuers)," the Monetary Authority requires licensed stablecoin issuers to take effective measures to identify and verify the identities of stablecoin holders. Customers must undergo complete customer due diligence (CDD) procedures and regular reviews (such as name, date of birth, ID number, etc., retained for at least five years). Non-customer holders generally do not need to verify their identities directly, but if monitoring reveals wallet addresses associated with illegal activities, sanctions lists, or suspicious sources, and the licensee cannot prove that their risk mitigation measures (such as blockchain analysis tools) are sufficient to prevent ML/TF risks, the licensee must further investigate and verify the identities of the relevant holders.
"The World's Strictest": In short, to meet anti-money laundering risks, stablecoin issuers must not only verify user identities and retain real-name data for over five years but also cannot provide services to anonymous users. They even have an obligation to verify the identity of every stablecoin holder initially. The Monetary Authority explained that, given the industry's ongoing monitoring tools have not convinced them of their effectiveness in reducing money laundering risks, and international organizations like the Bank for International Settlements emphasize the importance of preventing money laundering with stablecoins, the Monetary Authority will adopt a "risk-based but cautious" regulatory approach.
Limited Application Scenarios: From a practical perspective, especially in cross-border payments in physical scenarios, it is nearly impossible to verify the identities of anonymous holders in offshore accounts in real-time, let alone cover every holder in a large-scale payment system. This move effectively excludes all types of applicants other than banking institutions to some extent.
Farewell to DeFi Interactions: Under this regulation, Hong Kong stablecoins have essentially bid farewell to DeFi protocol interactions, as existing interaction wallets are all anonymous. In comparison, the competitiveness of Hong Kong stablecoins will significantly decrease compared to open-use USDT and USDC.
Cross-Border Jurisdiction and VPN Restrictions: The "Regulatory Framework for Stablecoin Issuers" clearly states that licensees must comply with the laws and regulatory requirements of relevant jurisdictions. Issuers need to have a complete risk control system for cross-border operations and are prohibited from providing services to countries and regions with stablecoin bans. It even mentions the identification of VPNs by licensed institutions, indicating that using a VPN to bypass regulations will be blocked, making it difficult for mainland users to access this system.
II. Market Reaction: Hong Kong Stock Concept Stocks Plummet, License Applications "Cool Down"
Hong Kong Monetary Authority President Yu Weiwen published an article titled "Stablecoins for Steady Progress" on the official website, aiming to cool down the surging stablecoin market.
Concept Stock Correction: According to Wind data, on August 1, A-shares and Hong Kong stock stablecoin concept stocks collectively fell. Hong Kong's Yau Chai Securities (1428.HK) dropped nearly 20%, Yunfeng Financial (0376.HK) fell over 15%, OKLink (1499.HK), Lianlian Digital (2598.HK), Guotai Junan International (1788.HK), and OSL Group (0863.HK) all fell over 10%; A-share Sifang Jingchuang dropped over 5%.
Licensing Slower than Expected: The Monetary Authority stated that initially, only a single-digit number of licenses would be issued, and it is expected that no licenses will be granted within the year, with the first batch of licenses to be issued in early 2026. This is a significant deviation from the market's earlier predictions that stablecoins would rapidly advance starting in August.
Initial Screening Mechanism for Applications: Caixin cited sources saying that the licensing for stablecoin issuers will not be conducted through applicants downloading forms and submitting written applications but will be arranged in a manner similar to an invitation application system.
III. U.S. Regulation: The "Ice and Fire" Contrast with Hong Kong and Singapore
In stark contrast to the strict regulations in Hong Kong and Singapore, the attitude of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is different.
"Project Crypto": On July 31, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins announced a new policy called "Project Crypto," proposing a grand vision of fully integrating the U.S. financial market onto the blockchain, clearly stating the goal of making the U.S. the "global crypto capital."
Shift in Regulatory Logic: The U.S. regulatory logic has completely changed, shifting from a punitive regulatory approach to inclusive enforcement, further moving towards comprehensive policy support across the entire chain and framework, encompassing everything from source attributes to key applications, from platform construction to service guarantees.
IV. RWA and Bank Digital Asset Business: Hong Kong's Future Direction
Despite the stringent regulation of stablecoins, Hong Kong is still making positive progress in RWA (real-world assets) and bank digital asset businesses.
RWA Registration Platform: On August 7, the "RWA Industry Development Research Report: Industry Chapter 2025" was released in Hong Kong, systematically proposing standards and frameworks for RWA asset selection. The report points out that not all assets are suitable for RWA tokenization, and the notion that "everything can be RWA" is a fallacy. Successfully scaling assets for tokenization must meet three thresholds: value stability, clear legal rights, and verifiable off-chain data. On the same day, the RWA registration platform officially launched in Hong Kong, initiated by the Hong Kong Web3.0 Standardization Association, aiming to provide a comprehensive service system for the digitization, assetization, and financialization of RWA assets. Three standards in the Web3.0 field were established, including "Guidelines for RWA Tokenization Business," "Technical Specifications for RWA Tokenization," and "Blockchain-Based Stablecoin Cross-Border Payment Technical Specifications."
Bank Digital Asset Business: Hong Kong Monetary Authority President Yu Weiwen revealed that as of mid-July 2025, 22 banks have been authorized to sell digital asset-related products, 13 banks have been authorized to sell tokenized securities, and five banks have been authorized to provide digital asset custody services. In the first half of 2025, the total transaction volume of bank digital asset-related products and tokenized assets reached HKD 26.1 billion, a 233% increase compared to the same period last year, surpassing the total transaction volume of the previous year.
Virtual Asset ETFs: On August 7, Hong Kong stock market data showed that the total trading volume of all Hong Kong virtual asset ETFs was approximately HKD 14.86049 million. Among them, the Huaxia Ethereum ETF had a trading volume of HKD 8.27011 million, performing outstandingly.
The official implementation of Hong Kong's "Stablecoin Regulation," with its stringent real-name system and high barriers, has undoubtedly posed significant obstacles to the development of the stablecoin market in Hong Kong, making the free circulation of stablecoins on-chain essentially a mirage and leading to a collective decline in Hong Kong stock concept stocks. However, this strict regulation also aims to prevent financial risks and ensure that digital finance operates under the rule of law. Meanwhile, Hong Kong has made breakthrough progress in the RWA field, with the release of the first RWA industry white paper and the launch of the RWA registration platform, demonstrating its diversified layout in the digital asset field. In stark contrast to the inclusivity of U.S. regulation, the regulatory strategies of Hong Kong and Singapore may be destined to follow a differentiated path, while the "U.S. center" pattern of the crypto industry will be further strengthened.
Related Reading: JD.com May Miss Out on the First Batch of Hong Kong Stablecoin Licenses? The Official Quickly Clarified!
Original Article: “Hong Kong Issues Toughest Stablecoin Regulations as First RWA Industry White Paper Released”
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
