Hong Kong’s StableCOin licensing regime, which will begin on August 1st, draws considerable interest from the region’s economic and technical heavy weights, with local media in China reporting that over 40 applications have been received.
But expectations are tempered by the reality that Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will probably only approve a single -digit number of licenses, according to reports, making this one of the most competitive regulatory races in the city’s digital financial history.
Despite Rush of interest, only three companies are admitted to HKMA’s StableCoin -Sandkasse so far, including a joint venture between standard chartered and Animoca brands.
According to an HKMA fact, the sandbox was set up to provide companies with a real and well-developed plan to issue Fiat-referred stablecoins to engage with regulators, refine compliance models and offer feedback on proposed rules.
Recording is not an endorsement or guarantee of license and sandbox participants will still have to use formally when the full regime is live. However, the limited number of companies accepted in this test phase gives an early look at how narrow the approval suit can be.
Most of the companies preparing to apply are among China’s largest banks, payment processors and internet companies, according to reports.
Standard Chartered’s Joint Venture, JD.com’s Blockchain Division and Ant Group’s digital funding devices are expected to be challengers, with standard chartered and JD already sandbox participants.
HKMA’s cautious approach appears to be in accordance with how Securities and Futures — Commission (SFC) Has handled virtual asset platforms and assigns only 11 licenses so far.
During the SFC license process for virtual active platforms, a number of high-profile challenges withdrew their applications and reports at that time indicated that the regulator discovered “unsatisfactory practice” on some exchanges.
Read more: Hong Kong exposes the plan to regulate crypto, encourage tokenization
