The Stablecoins Ordinance, which provides a statutory framework for the regulatory regime applicable to stablecoins in Hong Kong, (the Regime) was passed by the Legislative Council on 21 May 2025 and came into effect on 1 August 2025. The Regime outlines the key regulatory requirements for issuing and offering stablecoins in Hong Kong. We set out in this briefing a high-level overview of these requirements.

The Regime primarily regulates stablecoins that are “pegged to” (i.e., purports to maintain a stable value with reference wholly to) (i) one or more official currencies, (ii) one or more units of account or stores of economic value specified by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (the HKMA), or (iii) a combination of (i) and (ii). The Regime also applies to stablecoins that are a digital representation of value specified by the HKMA, which provides a degree of flexibility to regulate stablecoins   referencing other value-linked digital assets (e.g., commodity, financial or physical assets which may have been digitalised).