Column has launched four new financial infrastructure products covering stablecoins, card issuing, global banking and multicurrency accounts, allowing fintech companies to access these services through a single banking platform. The stablecoin product makes USDC and USDT interoperable with U.S. dollars and the payment networks connected to Column’s banking stack, with conversions and transfers operating around the clock without an intermediary provider. Co-founder William Hockey announced the products on Sept. 16 and said each service is already processing billions of dollars for fintech companies including Ramp, Brex, Bilt, Mercury, Slash and Kapital.
Column also built its own issuer processor, enabling debit, credit and stablecoin-backed cards across Mastercard and Visa networks. The launch follows Visa reporting more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs globally in its fiscal second quarter of 2026, with stablecoin payment volume up nearly 200% year over year and settlement volume above a $20 billion annualized rate. Mastercard separately added six regulated stablecoins to its settlement network in June, including USDC, PYUSD, USDG, USDP, RLUSD and SoFiUSD.
Hong Kong used its 2026 Policy Address, released Sept. 16, to outline an expansion of regulated stablecoin trading, tokenized real-world assets and digital bond infrastructure. The Securities and Futures Commission is expected to enhance virtual asset licensing rules and develop specific guidelines for virtual asset service providers. Regulators plan to permit regulated stablecoins to trade on licensed virtual asset platforms and to settle tokenized money market funds. The SFC will also improve rules so gold and other suitable real-world assets can be issued and traded in tokenized form on licensed platforms.
Hong Kong granted its first stablecoin issuer licenses earlier this year to two institutions with banking backgrounds, including Standard Chartered-backed Anchorpoint Financial. Anchorpoint opened beta access for the Hong Kong dollar-backed HKDAP stablecoin in August for institutional distributors and professional investors, with HashKey Exchange as an authorized distribution partner. Standard Chartered later became the first bank distributor for HKDAP and plans to introduce subscription and settlement services for tokenized money market funds in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Hong Kong’s digital bond market has also expanded rapidly, accounting for nearly 50% of global issuance between 2025 and the first half of 2026. The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation priced a HK$12 billion digital bond in June, equivalent to roughly $1.5 billion, described as the world’s largest completed tokenized bond issuance. Authorities plan to regularize digital bond issuance, explore digital currencies across the bond life cycle, and test tokenized Exchange Fund Bills by the end of 2026, with more than HK$1.3 trillion in eligible bills. The HKMA aims to implement wholesale CBDC settlement and 24-hour operations under the EnsembleTX project around the end of 2026, while the SFC prepares a digital asset custody surveillance system for the second half of 2026 and expanded market and anti-money laundering surveillance in 2027.
The combined developments highlight how stablecoins are moving deeper into payment, banking and regulated financial infrastructure. Column’s platform removes separate intermediaries for stablecoin-fiat conversion, while Hong Kong is creating a regulated path for stablecoins, tokenized assets and always-on settlement.
