Crypto

HSBC Launches RedCoin, Its First Stablecoin, for 3.3 Million PayMe Users

HSBC launched RedCoin (RCHKD), a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin licensed by the HKMA, on its PayMe app on Oct. 23, 2026, for payments to friends and more than 100,000 merchants.

Oct 23, 2026 - 07:10

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HSBC on Friday, October 23, 2026, launched HSBC RedCoin, the bank's first stablecoin, making the Hong Kong dollar-denominated token available through its PayMe payments app, according to a statement from HSBC Hong Kong. The token trades under the ticker RCHKD and is licensed and regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

What users can do

More than 3.3 million PayMe users will be able to activate a stablecoin wallet in the app over the coming days, HSBC said. The wallet supports peer-to-peer transfers to friends and family and payments at more than 100,000 merchants that accept PayMe. HSBC Digital Assets Custody provides safekeeping for the token, and the bank has said RedCoin will be fully backed by high-quality liquid assets held in separate accounts, CoinDesk reported.

Before the launch, staff pilots involving nearly 100 users tested the full process from minting and wallet activation to live transfers, the bank said. HSBC cited an internal survey of 1,060 customers conducted in June 2026, in which 53% of respondents said Hong Kong dollar stablecoins could strengthen the city's economic competitiveness by enabling round-the-clock payments and supporting trade, tourism and cross-border commerce.

Plans for banking app and tokenized funds

Later this year, HSBC plans to add stablecoin wallet functionality to its HSBC HK Mobile Banking App and to let customers use RedCoin to subscribe to tokenized investment products, including a new share class of its long-running Hong Kong dollar money market fund.

"This is only the beginning. We will soon add more products, including expanding into wholesale corporate and institutional use cases," said John O'Neill, HSBC's managing director for digital assets and currencies. Maggie Ng, the bank's chief executive for Hong Kong, said money, assets and information "are moving from traditional infrastructure to always-on, data-rich and increasingly programmable digital networks."

Hong Kong's licensing regime

Hong Kong's Stablecoins Ordinance took effect in August 2025 and created a licensing framework for issuers of fiat-referenced stablecoins, The Block reported. In April 2026 the HKMA granted its first issuer licenses to The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and to Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture of Standard Chartered, HKT and Animoca Brands. Anchorpoint began a phased institutional rollout of its HKDAP stablecoin in August, focused on payments and settlement.

RedCoin adds to HSBC's existing digital-asset products in Hong Kong. According to the bank, its HSBC Orion platform has enabled more than $8.3 billion in digitally native bond issuance globally since 2023, and its HSBC Gold Token for retail customers had recorded 390,000 trades with a total traded value of $2.5 billion by the end of August 2026. The bank also runs a tokenized deposit service for wholesale payments and has taken part in the HKMA's e-HKD+ pilot and Project Ensemble.

Market backdrop

The launch came as crypto prices steadied after a volatile Thursday. Bitcoin rose 0.5% to around $81,700 since midnight UTC on Friday after dipping to about $81,000, and ether gained 0.9%, CoinDesk reported. U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $635 million of net outflows on Thursday, according to SoSoValue data cited by CoinDesk, after taking in more than $1 billion over the first three days of the week.