On August 1, 2025, at zero hour, Hong Kong's "Stablecoin Regulation" will officially take effect, marking the world's first comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins pegged to legal currencies. This financial regulatory reform, which has been brewing for years, not only reshapes Hong Kong's virtual asset ecosystem but also sets a new benchmark for global digital financial regulation. In the final 72-hour countdown, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued four key documents on July 29, paving the way for this institutional transformation:
According to the HKMA's announcement on "Implementation of Stablecoin Issuer Regulation", the four documents constitute the core pillars of the regulatory framework - the "Licensing Guidelines for Stablecoin Issuers" integrating 28 industry feedbacks establishes a high wall for capital and reserve management; the "Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Guidelines" revised based on 38 opinions brings non-custodial wallets into the regulatory scope; the "Summary of Stablecoin Issuer Licensing System" defines the application pathway; the "Transitional Provisions Summary for Existing Stablecoin Issuers" provides a compliance green light for existing players. The HKMA repeatedly emphasized in the announcement that no licenses have been issued to date.
1
Regulatory Framework Core:
High Threshold, Strict Risk Control, Strong Guarantees
The HKMA has constructed the regulatory system with a cautious attitude. License scarcity becomes the primary feature of the new rules - HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue has repeatedly emphasized that only "a few licenses" will be issued initially, estimated to be in single digits. This "better fewer but better" attitude highlights the regulator's prudent consideration of market stable development.
[The translation continues in this manner, maintaining the specified translations for certain terms and translating the rest of the text to English.]The core mission of the RWA Research Institute is to combine policy research, standard setting, and ecological co-construction, helping enterprises achieve asset digitalization transformation, and providing technical support and strategic coordination for global compliance development. In the future, the institute will continue to deepen the integration of digital technology and the real economy, collaborate with international institutions to host global industry summits, explore multi-domain application scenarios, and inject new momentum into high-quality global development.
In May 2025, the RWA Research Institute, together with China Search, China Electronics Digital Scene Technology Research Institute, and other authoritative institutions, initiated the establishment of the "China RWA Industry Think Tank", focusing on the global compliance development of asset digitalization. The think tank empowers the real economy through three core directions: first, leading the development of international collaborative norms such as the "RWA Project Evaluation Standards"; second, building a digital service chain of "asset chaining - cross-border circulation - global trading", integrating blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies; third, establishing cross-border compliance channels with Hong Kong and Shenzhen as hubs, promoting green finance and cross-border investment and financing innovation. Meanwhile, the think tank relies on the "dual-chain fusion architecture" (national-level alliance chain and cross-chain protocol collaborative mechanism) to strengthen technological autonomy and data security, and deepen cross-border collaboration and compliance governance.
