HKDAP Aims to Become On-Chain Settlement Currency for Corporate and Institutional Finance

Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP is positioning the HKD to do more than just speed up payments — it could become the on-chain plumbing for cross-border settlement, corporate treasury and tokenized finance, a HashKey researcher says. Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, told crypto.news that as more financial assets migrate onto blockchains, regulated HKD-denominated stablecoins like HKDAP will be needed not only as payment rails but as the settlement currency that matches on-chain assets. “The role of HKD stablecoins (including HKDAP) in the future will be more than just a new payment tool; more importantly, they will serve as a digital vehicle for the Hong Kong Dollar to enter the on-chain financial system,” he said. Real-world pilots are already testing those claims - Insurance: On Aug. 14 HashKey Exchange completed a live HKDAP transaction with YF Life Insurance International, executing subscription and redemption with real funds. YF Life said it may support HKDAP premium payments in the future, subject to regulation. HashKey has also partnered with insurer OneDegree to explore local and cross-border use cases — two early institutional tests that Sun says make sense given insurance’s regulated nature and the recurring, standardized flow of premium payments. - Trade finance: On Aug. 13 Unloq reported that its SC+ trade-finance platform used HKDAP to settle a Hong Kong receivables-financing transaction. SC+ tokenized the approved receivable on-chain while HKDAP handled settlement within the workflow. Why HKDAP could matter Sun highlights several institutional areas where tokenized HKD could add value: cross-border settlement, corporate treasury management, digital-asset trading and the settlement of tokenized financial products, which require a compatible on-chain currency for subscription, redemption and settlement. He also argues that having an HKD stablecoin helps prevent on-chain finance from becoming overly dependent on USD-denominated stablecoins in the long run. Controlled, institutional rollout Anchorpoint — the issuer behind HKDAP, formed by Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT and Animoca Brands — began a controlled beta for institutional distributors and professional investors on Aug. 12, focusing initially on cross-border payments, fiat conversion and tokenized-asset settlement. HashKey Exchange was named an authorized distributor, and Anchorpoint completed initial minting and redemption transactions with eligible clients around the time distribution was announced. Institutional distribution has expanded during the beta: - Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) became the first bank distributor on Aug. 24 and is exploring fund settlement, treasury and cross-border trade payments with eligible institutional clients. - Finloop (Aug. 25), Yunfeng Financial (Aug. 26) and the Bank of East Asia (agreement on Aug. 28) joined the distribution network or signed exploratory pacts with Anchorpoint. Technical and regulatory groundwork Before the beta, Anchorpoint, OSL Group and PantherTrade tested HKDAP transfers on Ethereum mainnet to validate transaction flows after Anchorpoint received regulatory approval. Anchorpoint’s whitepaper pegs HKDAP at a par value of HK$1 per token and states that tokens in circulation must be backed by a reserve pool with market value at least equal to outstanding HKDAP; those assets are to be held in trust for token holders. Regulation sits at the center of the project. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted the first stablecoin issuer licenses — to Anchorpoint and HSBC — under the Stablecoins Ordinance. The ordinance, which took effect in August 2025, places requirements on reserves, redemption, governance and risk controls and subjects covered issuers to HKMA supervision. Anchorpoint’s whitepaper notes the token is authorized for issuance in Hong Kong and may only be distributed in other jurisdictions consistent with local laws. U.S. context and the broader landscape Sun’s argument for a domestic HKD stablecoin comes as global regulators move to formalize stablecoin rules. The U.S. passed federal legislation for payment stablecoins in July 2025 (the GENIUS Act), but key implementing rules missed a July 18, 2026 deadline, leaving some elements unfinished ahead of the law’s effective date. U.S. regulators have also proposed customer-identification rules that could treat certain permitted payment stablecoin issuers as financial institutions for Bank Secrecy Act purposes. What’s next HKDAP remains in a controlled institutional rollout while Anchorpoint and its distribution partners expand testing across insurance, trade finance, treasury and tokenized-asset settlement. If these pilots scale, Sun says HKD stablecoins could help entrench Hong Kong’s currency in on-chain financial infrastructure rather than leaving it dominated by USD stablecoins. Bottom line: HKDAP is being positioned as more than a payment token — with regulatory backing and a growing roster of institutional pilots, it’s being tested as a native on-chain settlement currency for corporate and institutional finance.