HSBC launches HKD stablecoin RedCoin, opening wallets to 3.3 million PayMe users

HSBC has launched RedCoin, a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and is rolling it out through its PayMe payments app. "More than 3.3 million PayMe users will be able to activate a stablecoin wallet in the app in the coming days," CFOtech reported, making the 3.3 million figure the eligible user base rather than active holders. It is HSBC's first stablecoin.

The token can be used for peer-to-peer transfers and payments at PayMe's merchant network of more than 100,000 businesses. HSBC's stated next steps are a wallet in its Hong Kong mobile banking app later this year, a new share class of its Hong Kong dollar money market fund, and wholesale and institutional use.

Competition in Hong Kong dollar tokens is thin so far. AMBCrypto noted that a rival token, Anchorpoint's HKDAP, had a market capitalization of $2.03 million, while dollar-linked stablecoins make up about 99.4% of the market.

AMBCrypto framed adoption as the open question: whether users transact with RedCoin repeatedly rather than activating a wallet once. Uptake numbers after the first weeks and the timing of the mobile banking rollout are the next markers.