HSBC now has a name for the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin it has not yet issued. It is HSBC RedCoin, and if you see one trading anywhere today, it is not from HSBC.
The bank made that unusually blunt point alongside the branding. “HSBC has not yet issued any stablecoins in Hong Kong,” its notice to editors says, adding that it “has no connection to any fraudulent stablecoins purportedly associated with HSBC.”
HSBC announced the name on September 30, 2026, alongside survey results from more than 1,000 of its Hong Kong customers. The token is due in the second half of this year under the stablecoin issuer license the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) granted in April.
What You Will Actually Be Able to Do With It
The practical details matter more than the name, and HSBC has now set out several.
At launch, RedCoin will be available only through PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile Banking App. That is a narrow distribution channel by crypto standards and a wide one by banking standards: PayMe is among Hong Kong’s most widely used payment apps. You will not need a crypto exchange account to hold it, and it will not initially be a token you send to an external wallet.
The first use cases are person-to-person transfers and person-to-merchant payments. Wholesale corporate and institutional uses come later, HSBC said, aligned with Hong Kong’s evolving digital asset framework.
One thing it will not do is pay you anything for holding it. HSBC’s survey found 10% of respondents believed stablecoins are interest-bearing, and the bank noted directly that this is “a feature not included in Hong Kong’s current regulatory framework.” A stablecoin under the Stablecoins Ordinance is a payment instrument, not a savings product.
Another misconception appeared in the same data: 26% assumed stablecoins are government-issued. RedCoin will be issued by a commercial bank under a government license, which is not the same thing as being issued by the government.
What the Survey Says, and What It Doesn’t
HSBC reported that 74% of respondents recognized at least one stablecoin use case. The leading one was digital asset trading and tokenized investments at 57%, followed by person-to-person transfers at 53%, cross-border remittances at 52%, and merchant payments at 52%. Sixty percent correctly defined a stablecoin as a fiat-backed digital asset.
On what would build confidence, respondents cited regulatory clarity at 62%, better education at 55%, fraud protection at 53%, easy conversion to cash at 51%, and reserve transparency at 39%.
The sample is worth reading carefully. The research was conducted online between June 18 and 28, 2026, among 1,060 HSBC customers aged 18 to 64. These are the bank’s own customers responding to its own research, not a representative sample of Hong Kong residents, and the findings are published by the company launching the product. They indicate interest among HSBC’s customer base rather than city-wide readiness.
“Today, we are naming our Hong Kong stablecoin to reflect our heritage: HSBC RedCoin,” said Maggie Ng, chief executive for Hong Kong and head of retail banking and wealth. “Launching our coin is just the beginning.”
The Scam Problem Is Already Real
The warning in HSBC’s notice is not hypothetical. In April, the HKMA warned that tokens using the tickers “HKDAP” and “HSBC” had appeared in the market and were not issued by or associated with any licensed Hong Kong stablecoin issuer. That was less than three weeks after the first licenses were granted and before either licensee had issued anything.
Naming the product publicly gives scammers a brand to copy. Anything calling itself RedCoin before HSBC’s own launch, or available anywhere other than PayMe and the HSBC HK app at launch, is not the licensed token.
HSBC said it will run an education series on scam prevention and redemption mechanisms across its banking apps, website, and social channels.
Where This Sits in Hong Kong’s Rollout
HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT, and Animoca Brands, are the only two licensed stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong. The HKMA assessed 36 applications and approved two and has not committed to a timeline for further approvals.
Licensed issuers must still clear system, risk, staffing, and external checks before going live, which is why a license granted in April has not yet produced a token in September. HSBC’s second-half launch window now leaves roughly three months.
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