Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong (SCBHK), Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecom are collaborating in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) stablecoin sandbox to explore stablecoin issuance together. Zodia Custody, a Standard Chartered subsidiary, will support their work.
“Standard Chartered is committed to staying at the forefront of the growing digital asset market and driving fintech innovation in Hong Kong,” said Dominic Maffei, Head of Digital Assets & Fintech, Hong Kong, Standard Chartered. “We believe that regulated financial institutions have a key role to play in the development of these markets.”
Hong Kong Telecom plans to explore how stablecoins can support domestic and cross border payments. It provides consumer and merchant payment solutions.
Animoca Brands is the most obvious participant given its Hong Kong base and its role in multiple web3 initiatives. It’s perhaps best known for The Sandbox metaverse, not to be confused with the stablecoin sandbox. Standard Chartered already owns virtual land in the ‘The Sandbox’.
While the stablecoin sandbox aims to help firms test their operational plans, in the initial stages they are not permitted to handle consumer funds. The HKMA plans to announce when it changes the testing scope to support limited retail payments.
Ecommerce giant JD.com subsidiary part of sandbox
Two other stablecoin projects have also entered the sandbox, JINGDONG Coinlink Technology and RD InnoTech (HKDR). The JINGDONG is the same as JD.com, China’s equivalent of Amazon.com. JD has a market capitalization of more than $43 billion on the Nasdaq, so technically this is bigger news than Standard Chartered which is worth less than half that amount.
Meanwhile, yesterday the HKMA published the results of its stablecoin consultation and its legislative proposals.
Ledger Insights Research has published a report on bank-issued stablecoins and tokenized deposits featuring more than 70 projects. Find out more here.
