Hong Kong's first regulated stablecoin is set to settle trade and insurance

Six days after Hong Kong's first regulated stablecoin went live, the city's largest exchange is already putting it forward for commercial work. HashKey Exchange said in a Monday statement that it plans to use HKDAP to settle cross-border trade with the United Arab Emirates and the wider Middle East, and to handle commercial insurance premium payouts alongside OneDegree, a digital-asset insurer. CoinDesk first reported the plans.

The trade route attached to the token is substantial. Hong Kong and the UAE conducted $48.95 billion in cross-border trade during 2025, nearly twice the $24 billion Hong Kong did with the rest of the Middle East, according to figures in the CoinDesk report. A token that can move those payments on a rail a bank or regulator can follow is exactly the use case a licensed stablecoin is meant to serve.

HKDAP is the product of Anchorpoint Financial, a venture backed by Standard Chartered, HKT and Animoca Brands. The token started a limited rollout on Aug. 12, restricted to institutions. Retail access is possible by the end of 2026. HashKey had already tested HKDAP in a life-insurance premium payment with YF Life on Aug. 14, so the trade and commercial-insurance plans extend that testing sequence.

Stablecoins are digital tokens pegged to a traditional asset, and the overwhelming share of the market is dollar-denominated. The global stablecoin market is about $310 billion. Tether's USDT accounts for roughly 59% of that, just under $183 billion; Circle's USDC is about 23%, at nearly $72 billion. Citigroup's forecast has stablecoins reaching $1.9 trillion by 2030 in a base case and $4 trillion in a bull case. A regulated Hong Kong dollar token is a small contender, but it gives the city a settlement instrument of its own.

Hong Kong's licensing process has been restrictive. Of 36 applicants for a stablecoin license, only two received one. HSBC holds the second, and it is preparing to launch its own stablecoin later this year to its 3.3 million PayMe users. The scarcity of approvals signals that the city intends tokens to be built for compliance, not for anonymity.

The political dimension is never far away. In October 2025, Beijing ordered Ant Group and JD.com to halt their Hong Kong stablecoin plans. The episode is a useful reminder that regulatory permission is only one layer of approval.

The insurance deployment is a notable test. Commercial premium payouts require policy verification and an audit trail, and a regulated token is designed for exactly that kind of scrutiny. OneDegree, as a digital-asset insurer, is a natural early adopter; whether traditional carriers follow is an open question.

For private wealth firms with clients in Asia and the Middle East, the development is worth tracking. A regulated HKD token, if it moves into retail, would give family offices and RIAs a new tool for cross-border cash management — but that is a longer road. The immediate test is narrower: whether HashKey's announced trade settlements and insurance payouts actually move money. A statement of intent is not a wire transfer. But attaching the first regulated token to a $48.95 billion trade corridor is a deliberate way of telling the market that Hong Kong's stablecoin regime intends to be used, not just to exist.