Three Major Events in One Month outline the clear contours of "stablecoins entering the mainstream":
(1) China National Petroleum Corporation (00857.HK) explicitly stated at its half-year report conference that it has been paying attention to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's plan to issue licenses to stablecoin issuers and is studying the possibility of using stablecoins for cross-border settlement and payment; this is the first time that one of China's largest state-owned enterprises has publicly considered stablecoins as a serious settlement option.
(2) Hong Kong's stablecoin regulatory framework has come into effect on August 1, 2025, with two sets of regulatory guidelines and licensing instructions being implemented simultaneously. The Monetary Authority also provided a timeline for intention communication and formal submissions, emphasizing that "no licenses have been issued yet"; the market generally expects that the first batch of licenses will appear in early 2026, and the number will be limited.
(3) At the level of payment and banking infrastructure, USDC has been integrated into two traditional backbone networks: Mastercard announced that it allows acquiring institutions and merchants in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) to use USDC/EURC for settlement, with Arab Financial Services and Eazy Financial Services being the first to connect; Finastra has integrated USDC settlement into its Global PAYplus (GPP) platform—this is a bank-grade hub system that processes over $50 trillion in cross-border payments daily.

I. Policy Anchoring: Compliance Boundaries and Timelines Clarified, Scenarios Transitioning from "Talkable to Doable"

Hong Kong has completed the "from principles to operations" loop in the Stablecoin Ordinance and its regulations: regulatory guidelines (including issuer regulation and anti-money laundering/anti-terrorist financing) have been published and will take effect on August 1, with intention communication ending on August 31 and encouraging the submission of the first batch of applications before September 30; the official website has also launched an entry for the licensed stablecoin issuer registry for public verification—this means that the three key elements of compliance vehicles, application pathways, and market verification mechanisms are all in place.

It is important to note that the customer identity verification (KYC) requirements under this framework are quite stringent, including the requirement for "real-name verification of every holder," which has sparked discussions in the industry about the costs and availability of adoption; the Monetary Authority emphasized that this phase's prudent approach is aimed at ensuring certainty in AML/CFT and the reputation of the system.

For cross-border large enterprises like China National Petroleum Corporation, the benefits of clear regulation are evident: it can design an auditable and custodial stablecoin settlement chain within the Hong Kong legal jurisdiction and connect with licensed institutions, incorporating technical pilots into compliance internal controls.

II. Demand Side of Enterprises: The "Second Growth Curve" of Settlement Efficiency and Capital Availability

Whether in crude oil, refined oil, or oil service outsourcing, the real pain points in cross-border trade chains have long existed: time zone fragmentation, cutoff restrictions, slow capital flow, and complex compliance penetration. The marginal value of stablecoins for corporate finance mainly lies in three aspects:

• Settlement Timeliness: On-chain transfers achieve 24/7 real-time payments, significantly compressing the uncertainty of the "arrival—delivery—release" timeline.

• Capital Efficiency: When combined with qualified custodians, "programmable cash" can be embedded into shipping nodes, bill of lading releases, margin unfreezing, and other business logic, reducing reconciliation and operational risks.

• Coverage of a Broader Long-Tail Counterparty: In emerging markets, traditional agency networks are not always smooth, and stablecoins + compliance channels provide alternative pathways for collections and settlements in "weak network areas."

China National Petroleum Corporation has included stablecoins in its "researchable" list, signaling more about institutional and risk control maturity: if a state-owned enterprise's finance wants to adopt it, it must be able to answer seven questions regarding "jurisdiction, entities, custody, accounting, taxation, sanctions, and redemption"—Hong Kong's new framework just happens to provide actionable anchors for these questions.

III. Infrastructure Side: The "System Entry" for USDC Has Been Opened

This time, the two actions by Mastercard and Finastra change the access cost curve:

• Stablecoin Settlement at the Card Organization Clearing Level (EEMEA)
  Mastercard allows regional acquirers and merchants to settle using USDC/EURC, specifically naming AFS and Eazy as the first to implement. This means that the "stablecoin liquidity pool" on the merchant/acquirer side has been integrated into one of the world's most mature clearing networks, establishing a bridge between card clearing and on-chain settlement. For the supply chains of goods and services targeting EEMEA, this is a natural entry point.

• Stablecoin Options at the Bank Payment Hub Level (GPP)
  Finastra announced the integration of USDC settlement into GPP, which is the "interbank bus" processing over $50 trillion in cross-border payments daily. This allows banks to enable or split routes for stablecoins as a settlement track on demand without reconstructing core systems (for example, "fiat in—USDC settlement—fiat out"). Compliance channels + existing network access significantly lower the pilot threshold for financial institutions.

• Industry Side Synergy Effects
  Meanwhile, traditional major banks are also laying out local issuance capabilities in Hong Kong (for example, Standard Chartered's leading Hong Kong version of the stablecoin joint venture plan), which echoes the timeline of "license effectiveness—first issuance," forming a triangular closed loop of "regulation—clearing network—banking system."

IV. Risk Control and Constraints: Necessary Conditions to Turn "New Tracks" into "Hard Assets"

• Compliance Penetration: Hong Kong's KYC/AML standards are becoming stricter, meaning that the availability of self-custody wallets/anonymity endpoints is limited; large enterprises should prioritize a combination of licensed issuers + custodial whitelist wallets.

• Issuer Risk: The transparency of reserves, redemption mechanisms, and legal eligibility of stablecoins must be thoroughly examined, prioritizing issuers that have audits and regulatory disclosure obligations, and incorporating the "redemption—currency exchange—settlement" process into emergency drills.

• Jurisdiction/Sanctions/Foreign Exchange: Energy trade counterparties are widely distributed in EEMEA, requiring joint assessments with banks/custodians regarding secondary sanctions, destination controls, and foreign exchange declarations, and ensuring that the on-chain track is compliant and traceable with accounting records.

• Accounting and Taxation: Establish accounts and policy guidelines for "stablecoin cash equivalents/settlements in transit/on-chain margins," ensuring an audit closed loop.

V. Actionable Pathways (Pilot List for Large Enterprise Finance Departments)

1. "Regulatory Equivalent" Plan (within Hong Kong): Use only Hong Kong licensed stablecoins (after license issuance), with assets bank-grade custodial, counterparties using whitelist wallets, initially implementing freight, margin, and outsourcing in low-dispute scenarios.

2. "Network Compatible" Plan (Merchant Side): Collect USDC/EURC through Mastercard's acquiring/merchant partners in EEMEA, with backend T+0 fiat net settlement with banks, reducing delays and failure rates in agency bank routes.

3. "Direct Bank Connection" Plan (Wholesale Side): Collaborate with banks using Finastra GPP to incorporate USDC as a cross-border settlement option into payment routing strategies (intelligently diverting by currency, country, and amount).

4. "Risk Control Precedent Package": Establish a five-piece set of wallet whitelists, limit caps, counterparty KYB/KYC, on-chain transaction monitoring, and redemption/currency exchange contingency plans; simultaneously complete the template for audit working papers and tax guidelines.

Three Forces are Converging into an "Industry-Level Closed Loop"

When central enterprise-level demand (China National Petroleum Corporation's research on cross-border settlement), jurisdiction-level frameworks (Hong Kong licenses and strong KYC), and system-level access (Mastercard and Finastra's integration) emerge at the same time, stablecoins have for the first time met the realistic conditions to become industry-level settlement assets. The following three main lines are worth closely tracking:

• License Rhythm: The time anchors for applications and issuances (intention by 8/31, submissions by 9/30, first batch in early 2026) and the rhythm of the licensed list going live;

• Bank Implementation: Which GPP banks will first open the fiat↔USDC two-way channel, and their compliance models and limit designs;

• Industry Scenarios: Changes in the usage rate of USDC settlements on the acquiring/merchant side in EEMEA, and the penetration of industries such as oil and gas, shipping, and infrastructure in freight and margin scenarios.

In the past, these ideas were more about "technical feasibility"; now, they are beginning to possess institutional feasibility and system availability. This is the critical watershed for stablecoins to transition from "on-chain stories" to "mainstream assets."

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