Standard Chartered has become the first bank authorised to distribute HKDAP, Hong Kong's first regulated local-currency stablecoin issued by Anchorpoint Financial.
The appointment follows Anchorpoint's Beta Access launch on August 12 and expands distribution beyond crypto-native platforms HashKey and OSL. The bank's role extends beyond distribution: Anchorpoint is a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), with HKT and Animoca Brands as joint venture partners, while Standard Chartered Trustee holds reserve assets in trust.
Planned applications include settlement for tokenised money market funds, intragroup transfers within the bank's global network and cross-border payments. HKDAP is designed to serve as the 24/7 cash leg for onchain transactions, closing timing gaps left by traditional wire and clearing systems.
Despite institutional backing, HKDAP remains small. Anchorpoint's transparency dashboard showed about 522,000 HKDAP in circulation and $658,160 in total volume as of August 19, backed by a reserve balance of 1.62 million HKD. The token operates only on Ethereum mainnet and is currently restricted to selected authorised distributors and institutional or corporate users.
Hong Kong's Stablecoins Ordinance took effect on August 1, 2025. The HKMA granted its first two licences in April 2026 to Anchorpoint and HSBC. Anchorpoint received licence FRS01 and began circulating HKDAP four months later. HSBC has yet to launch its competing Hong Kong dollar stablecoin but plans to do so in the second half of 2026.
Attention now shifts to fourth-quarter adoption metrics: asset-manager partnerships, subscription volumes, conversion spreads and reserve attestations. The key test is whether Standard Chartered's bank distribution can generate sustained institutional demand beyond the issuer's own network.
