Hong Kong Annual Budget: The first batch of stablecoin licenses will be issued next month and a digital asset platform will be established within the year

According to Foresight News, Mr Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, delivered the **2026–2027 Budget** at the Legislative Council. On digital assets, the Budget stated:

---

**On digital asset development**

The Government issued the second Policy Statement on Digital Assets, aiming to develop Hong Kong into a global digital asset innovation hub by establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework. We will introduce a bill this year to set up a licensing regime for digital asset service providers, including digital asset trading and custody.

Hong Kong has implemented a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers, and the first batch of licences will be issued next month. The Government and financial regulators will continue to support licensed issuers in exploring more use cases on a compliant and risk-controlled basis.

Subject to full investor protection, the Securities and Futures Commission will further enhance liquidity in Hong Kong’s digital asset market, providing more products and services for professional investors, and will set up an accelerator to expedite market innovation.

To support the adoption of tokenisation in the bond market, the Government will issue guidance to clarify that registers of debenture holders may be maintained using distributed ledger technology. It will also explore the electronic signing of issuance documents and promote the digitalisation of bearer bonds.

**On the crypto-asset reporting framework**

We will amend the Inland Revenue Ordinance to implement the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and the revised Common Reporting Standard in the next two years respectively, aligning with international efforts to strengthen tax transparency and combat cross-border tax evasion. We will introduce the amendment bill in the first half of the year.

**On Project Ensemble**

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the pilot phase of Project Ensemble (Ensembleᵀᕽ) last November, allowing industry participants to conduct real transactions using tokenised deposits and digital assets in a controlled environment. The system will be continuously enhanced to support around-the-clock settlement and the development of local standards, strengthening Hong Kong’s interoperability with other markets.

**On digital asset platform**

To promote fintech adoption and improve efficiency in the asset management market, HKSCC will establish a digital asset platform this year to support the issuance and settlement of digital bonds, with a gradual expansion to other digital assets and connection with other tokenisation platforms in the region, consolidating Hong Kong’s leading position in digital assets.

---

### Disclaimer

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute investment advice from this platform. This platform makes no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, originality or timeliness of the information, and shall not be liable for any losses arising from the use or reliance on such information.