Hong Kong is moving simultaneously on institutional gold tokenization and broader tokenised retail investment products, strengthening its position as a digital asset and bullion settlement hub.
Interbank gold tokenization. At Hong Kong FinTech Week on November 2, 2026, Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, announced an interbank project under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Project Ensemble. The proposed token would represent a standard 400-ounce gold bar of about 12.44 kilograms and would use the HAU gold price reference alongside tokenized bank deposits. Hui said the project is expected to begin soon, but no launch date or participating institutions were identified.
HSBC’s retail Gold Token, launched in March 2024, recorded 390,000 trades worth $2.5 billion through August 31, 2026, implying an average trade value of about $6,410. That product offers fractional retail gold exposure through HSBC banking channels, while the interbank initiative targets large wholesale bullion transfers between banks and institutions.
Hong Kong has not yet published custody, redemption, or final settlement terms. A blockchain record alone does not establish legal ownership of an identifiable bar, and the distinction between allocated bullion and contractual claims will depend on the issuer’s arrangements.
On July 7, 2026, Hong Kong began trial operations of a central gold clearing and settlement system administered by Hong Kong Precious Metals Central Clearing Company. Bank of China (Hong Kong) acts as settlement institution and designated vault. The system records gold balances on a central ledger connected to vaults, but official disclosures state gold is held on an unallocated basis, meaning metal is pooled rather than assigned individually. The city plans to link this system to its real-time gross settlement infrastructure for delivery-versus-payment, with formal commissioning targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
The HKMA also announced on November 2 that EnsembleTX would allow 24/7 settlement of tokenized deposit transactions using tokenized central bank money, with 12 banks and 20 industry participants. HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said Project Ensemble had moved from experimentation toward the commercialization of tokenization applications.
The World Gold Council reported that the People’s Bank of China held 2,410 tonnes of gold at the end of September 2026 after buying 103 tonnes in the first nine months, equivalent to about 193,700 wholesale bars at 400 troy ounces per bar. Hong Kong’s July clearing launch included an initial delivery connection with the Shanghai Gold Exchange.
SFC tokenised products. Elisa Ng, the Securities and Futures Commission’s executive director of investment products, said 17 tokenised retail products are now approved in Hong Kong, spanning money market funds, gold products and ETFs, with US$1.3 billion in assets under management. She said the next stage is generating traffic on the digital rails the city has built.
The SFC approved the first batch of tokenised money market funds for trading on SFC-licensed platforms last week, and Ng said tokenised gold ETFs may form the next pilot. For treasury management, connecting tokenised money market funds with digital money could cut settlement and reconciliation friction for corporates, and money market instruments could eventually move onchain.
Ng announced a regulatory innovation pathway allowing flexibility where a new feature of a tokenised product delivers meaningful benefits and first-mover advantage. She also linked tokenisation to Hong Kong’s offshore RMB role, saying e-CNY could interact with tokenised funds through subscriptions and redemptions of RMB-denominated tokenised money market funds, or through fund investments in government bills settled in e-CNY, subject to regulatory and cross-border arrangements.
The US$1.3 billion total is roughly HK$10.1 billion at the peg. Earlier SFC disclosures showed 13 tokenised products with HK$10.7 billion in tokenised classes as of March 2026, and the annual report put the same count at HK$10.8 billion. Four more products have been approved since, though the regulator said the latest figure may not be like-for-like.
In April, the SFC opened 24/7 secondary trading of tokenised authorised products on virtual asset trading platforms, and the first approvals went to two ChinaAMC funds. On the same day Ng spoke, the HKMA announced 24/7 interbank settlement in central bank digital currency, and Standard Chartered launched tokenised deposits in Hong Kong as EnsembleTX moved to 24/7 settlement.
