Standard Chartered has formed a joint venture partnership with Animoca Brands and HKT to issue a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin.
Standard Chartered has a track record of working with stablecoin issuers globally, allowing the JV to fully utilise its bank-grade infrastructure and governance.
Having participated in all of the HKMA’s tokenised money projects over the past few years, SCBHK will contribute to the growing digital asset ecosystem in Hong Kong by being a key anchor to the JV.
Animoca brands meanwhile will explore use cases across the Web3 ecosystem in Hong Kong, while multi-media outfit HKT will adopt the stablecoin within its mobile wallet.
SCBHK, Animoca Brands and HKT have been jointly participating in the HKMA stablecoin issuer sandbox launched in July 2024, to explore how stablecoins can play a key role in the development of financial markets and payments by bridging Web3 and traditional finance.
The JV partners intend to apply for a licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in order to issue the new stablecoin.
Bill Winters, group chief executive, Standard Chartered, says: “Digital assets are here to stay and the development of different forms of tokenised money is integral to the advancement of this industry. As public chain instruments with proven use cases, stablecoins play a critical role in the overall digital asset ecosystem. Standard Chartered’s bank-grade infrastructure, governance and global reach mean that we are in a good position to materially contribute to the development of the ecosystem being built in Hong Kong and globally.”