The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has announced the first participants in its stablecoin issuer sandbox, just a day after finishing the consultation period on stablecoin regulations. Three entities have been chosen for this regulatory testing ground.
The participants include a coalition of Standard Chartered Bank, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecommunications; Jingdong Coinlink Technology Hong Kong, a company associated with Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.com; and RD InnoTech, a local fintech firm.
During the sandbox phase, these participants will evaluate their operational plans and interact with regulators regarding the proposed regulatory framework. The HKMA has specified that participants cannot handle or solicit funds from the public for sandbox-related activities.
HKMA deputy CEO Darryl Chan commented on the initiative, stating, “A key consideration is the need to propose concrete use cases for the stablecoin to help address pain points in economic activities and create value and new opportunities for our economy and financial services.”
In a blog post, Animoca Brands highlighted the shared interest among its coalition partners in developing Hong Kong’s digital asset ecosystem. The group plans to utilize the services of Zodia Custody, a digital asset cold storage provider majority-owned by Standard Chartered Bank.
RD InnoTech, a subsidiary of RD Technologies, intends to test various use cases for its proprietary Hong Kong Dollar stablecoin, ‘HKDR’. These include applications in digital asset trading and cross-border trade payments.
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