Last July Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong announced a collaboration with Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) and web3 firm Animoca Brands to explore stablecoin issuance as part of a Hong Kong sandbox. Now the bank says it is creating a joint venture with the same partners in order to apply for a license with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority under its new stablecoin regulations. The joint venture intends to be one of the first issuers. Hong Kong published a Bill late last year.
Each of the partners brings specialist skills to the venture. Standard Chartered can contribute bank grade infrastructure and governance. It already provides services to stablecoin issuer Paxos outside the United States. Plus it has participated in various Hong Kong digital currency initiatives including for tokenized deposits, wholesale and retail CBDC.
It’s hard to think of another G-SIB bank that has leaned into tokenization and crypto with the breadth of engagement that Standard Chartered has shown. That includes businesses incubated by the bank’s SC Ventures, including Zodia Custody, Zodia Markets which is very involved with stablecoins, and tokenization firm Libeara. Additionally, the bank has invested in traditional finance initiatives such as SWIAT for tokenization and Partior for tokenized cross border payments. Other Partior participants include DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.
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