Original Author: Zhou Zhou, Foresight News

Hong Kong's stablecoin and RWA market welcomes its first batch of exiters.

On September 29, sources revealed to Foresight News that at least four financial institutions with Chinese backgrounds, including Guotai Junan International, have recently withdrawn their applications for stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong or postponed their related attempts in the RWA sector due to prudential considerations.

A senior executive close to Hong Kong financial institutions, Morgan, told Foresight News that some Chinese banks have adopted a more cautious strategy in the stablecoin sector following guidance from regulators, with several institutions choosing to delay their entry. Industry insiders pointed out that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority set two important deadlines for market participants: intentions to apply must be expressed by August 31, and formal applications must be submitted by September 30. This means that institutions that have not submitted applications by tomorrow will miss the first batch of stablecoin licenses.

In the RWA (Real World Assets) sector, some Chinese institutions have also postponed related business attempts due to regulatory guidance. A practitioner close to Chinese securities firms, Lee, revealed to Foresight News that several institutions, including Guotai Junan International, have suspended their RWA-related business activities in Hong Kong, and Guotai Junan's RWA business has already been halted. Lee also disclosed that another Chinese securities firm listed on the A-share market has received notice to stop its ongoing attempts in Hong Kong's RWA sector.

Within the industry, some practitioners believe that stablecoins are a subcategory of RWA. The essence of a US dollar stablecoin is to tokenize the US dollar, a real-world asset.

RWA (Real World Assets) refers to the tokenization of assets in the real world. Common examples include US stock RWA (stock tokenization), US bond RWA (US bond tokenization), and gold RWA (gold tokenization). As an emerging industry, RWA is developing rapidly in the United States. For instance, the largest internet brokerage in the US, Robinhood, is attempting to launch stock RWA (stock tokenization), tokenizing private equity of well-known companies like SpaceX and OpenAI, allowing ordinary retail investors to purchase tokens representing equity in unlisted companies, attracting global financial industry attention.

In the US, the development of stablecoins and RWA is thriving, with giants like PayPal, Robinhood, and Nasdaq entering the field; in Europe, nine major European banks have announced plans to jointly launch a compliant euro stablecoin next year. In Hong Kong, the launch of a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin is imminent, with over 77 companies having submitted intentions to apply for stablecoin licenses. Meanwhile, under the monitoring of regulatory agencies, Hong Kong's RWA pilot program in the primary market has been running for over two years, with around thirty to forty projects currently in operation.

However, a large influx of mainland institutions from industries such as banking, securities, and the internet has led to an overly heated situation in the Hong Kong stablecoin and RWA sectors. In the context of rising market and public opinion heat, mainland regulatory agencies have chosen to cool things down.

The Hong Kong stablecoin and RWA sectors welcome their first batch of exiters.

Partial Cooling

Before and after the formal implementation of Hong Kong's stablecoin regulations, signs of cooling have begun to appear in the market, albeit only partially.

In early August, I attended a conference in Hong Kong, where several financial institutions and internet companies announced their applications for stablecoin licenses and actively entered the RWA sector. However, almost overnight, all financial institutions, internet companies, and entities entering the Hong Kong stablecoin sandbox canceled external interviews and all public discussions regarding stablecoins.

On August 1, 2025, Hong Kong officially implemented the "Stablecoin Ordinance," establishing the world's first comprehensive legal framework for regulating stablecoins. Just days before the ordinance took effect, a set of guidelines was issued to financial institutions.

Foresight News learned from sources that mainland regulatory authorities conveyed relevant guidelines to financial institutions, requiring them to maintain a low profile regarding stablecoin-related business and statements, avoiding excessive promotion or creating public opinion hotspots, and to strictly manage internal research and public sentiment.

"You can do it, but you cannot say it," sources indicated.

According to a Caixin report on September 11, an informed source revealed that Hong Kong's stablecoin business is still in its infancy, with an unclear future direction. Excessive participation from Chinese institutions may pose risks, necessitating a preliminary risk isolation. Another senior figure in the financial industry stated that previously proactive Chinese banks and state-owned enterprises in Hong Kong, such as Bank of China Hong Kong, China Merchants Bank Hong Kong, China Construction Bank (Asia), and Sinopac International, may delay their applications for Hong Kong stablecoin licenses. Among them, Bank of China Hong Kong is one of the three major note-issuing banks in Hong Kong.

Morgan interpreted the regulatory stance to Foresight News: First, it prohibits Chinese institutions involved in Hong Kong's crypto business from operating domestically and encourages cautious participation in virtual asset-related businesses; second, it prohibits the influx of mainland funds; third, the parent companies behind Chinese financial institutions must bear compliance responsibilities.

In summary, the current concerns of mainland regulatory agencies primarily revolve around the rush of Chinese financial institutions and internet companies entering the Hong Kong crypto market, and they have already guided some Chinese institutions to exit stablecoin and RWA businesses. Meanwhile, local "non-Chinese financial institutions" in Hong Kong continue to conduct crypto-related businesses in an orderly manner.

The pace of issuing stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong may resemble that of previous Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchanges. For example, only one or two institutions received the first batch of VATP cryptocurrency exchange licenses, while seven or eight institutions received licenses in the second batch.

An informed source revealed to Foresight News that several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Futu and Victory Securities, will officially operate in Hong Kong by the end of the year. The first batch of companies to obtain VASP licenses, such as HashKey, officially launched and began providing trading services in August 2023, over two years ago.

When will it heat up, and where will it heat up?

Since the beginning of 2025, the entire US crypto market has been in a warming trend, with continuous hotspots from exchanges, ETFs, stablecoins, RWA, to DAT. However, Hong Kong has its own rhythm.

Morgan stated that Hong Kong's RWA pilot program in the primary market has been running for over two years, with around thirty to forty projects currently in operation, most with project scales of ten to twenty million Hong Kong dollars. "Theoretically, the secondary market for Hong Kong RWA can be developed, and there may already be institutions applying for it," Morgan said.

The same applies to Hong Kong's stablecoins. The Hong Kong stablecoin sandbox was officially launched on March 12, 2024, and has been running for about a year and a half. After the stablecoin license regulations took effect, the Monetary Authority received 77 intentions to apply for stablecoin licenses in August. Informed sources predict that the first batch of stablecoin licenses will be issued by the end of the year or early next year.

The cooling of the Hong Kong crypto market happened overnight, and similarly, the partial warming or sudden warming of the Hong Kong crypto market may also occur in an instant.

Changes in the international situation are also rapidly transmitting to Hong Kong's crypto industry. The progress of stablecoins and RWA in regions such as the US, Europe, and South Korea is also influencing Hong Kong's progress. On September 25, nine major European banks jointly launched a euro stablecoin subject to the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The participating banks stated that this plan will provide a genuine European alternative to the US-dominated stablecoin market and help enhance Europe's strategic autonomy in the payment sector. This stablecoin is expected to be issued for the first time in the second half of 2026.

DAT (Digital Asset Treasury Company) is also a sector that has yet to gain traction in Hong Kong. For example, "Jack Ma's cryptocurrency concept stock" Yunfeng Financial accumulated 10,000 ETH in the public market on September 2, listing ETH as an investment asset in its financial statements, and stated that in addition to Ethereum, it plans to explore including BTC, SOL, and other diversified mainstream digital assets into the company's strategic reserve assets. Over the past month, Yunfeng Financial's stock has surged by 65.09%.

In the US, the crypto sectors such as ETFs, stablecoins, RWA, and DAT have all fully heated up, with high market enthusiasm; in contrast, Hong Kong still adopts a cautious exploratory approach in similar sectors, with noticeably restrained steps.

Exiters and Entrants

Many entrants, many exiters.

From the first batch of cryptocurrency exchanges like HashKey and OSL, to participants in Bitcoin spot ETFs like Huaxia Fund, and now to stablecoins, RWA, and DAT, there are numerous sub-sectors in the cryptocurrency field that attract a continuous influx of financial institutions and internet companies eager to get a piece of the pie.

The VASP license has attracted a number of brokerage institutions, such as Futu Securities, Tiger Brokers, and Victory Securities; Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs have drawn in wealth management institutions like Huaxia Fund and Bosera Fund; stablecoins have attracted banks like BOC International and Standard Chartered; DAT has attracted Hong Kong-listed companies like Yunfeng Financial, which have included it in their balance sheets… The cryptocurrency industry is fully integrating into the entire Hong Kong financial system.

Temporary exit does not mean permanent loss. Just as the internet has transformed the financial industry, today almost all brokerages are internet brokerages, and all banks are internet banks. The integration of cryptocurrency and finance may deeply transcend boundaries in the future. The first batch of entrants bears the greatest risks and reaps the largest rewards.

Note: The names Morgan and Lee in the text are pseudonyms.

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