On Friday 23 October 2026, HSBC began rolling out RedCoin, a stablecoin backed by the Hong Kong dollar, directly within PayMe, its mobile payment app. According to Journal du Coin, more than 3.3 million users can activate a RedCoin wallet there, without opening a new account or depositing a minimum balance. The bank is one of only two institutions authorised to issue a stablecoin in Hong Kong.
A gradual launch, limited to payments
The launch begins with a deliberately narrow scope. According to the South China Morning Post, which broke the news, RedCoin is for now used for transfers between individuals and for payments at merchants. Access is opening in successive waves, so as not to overload the bank's internal systems.
The token, with the ticker RCHKD, is exchanged one-for-one against Hong Kong dollars. Its reserves are ring-fenced, and it remains confined to the group's applications. Before opening it to the public, HSBC tested the system with nearly 100 employees, according to Journal du Coin.
"The priority of the first phase is to ensure a stable service, avoid additional constraints for customers and earn their trust," sums up Lawrence Li, head of PayMe.
Nothing visibly changes for the customer and the merchant
For the user, the process remains the familiar PayMe one. They update the app, choose the RedCoin wallet and send money instantly. This wallet follows the same transaction limits as the Hong Kong dollar wallets already offered in the app.
On the merchant side, settlement times remain those of a standard payment, with no cost or technical change, according to the source. More than 100,000 merchants already accept PayMe in the region. The difference lies under the hood: the balance now circulates as a token issued by a licensed bank.
Hong Kong's licensing regime
Hong Kong has been granting stablecoin issuer licences since spring 2026. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the territory's monetary authority, granted the first ones on 10 April 2026, to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, according to Journal du Coin.
Anchorpoint Financial is a joint venture of Standard Chartered Hong Kong, the operator HKT and Animoca Brands. In August it launched its own token, HKDAP, aimed at institutional investors. HSBC is therefore entering an almost empty field on the retail side.
HSBC's timeline unfolded in two stages. The RedCoin name was announced at the end of September 2026, ahead of this first October rollout.
What a bank-issued stablecoin changes
RedCoin stands out first and foremost because of the nature of its issuer. Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC are issued by crypto companies and circulate freely between wallets and exchanges. RedCoin comes from a regulated bank and remains, for now, locked inside PayMe.
Comparing it with other recent projects reveals several models of bank digital money. J.P. Morgan has placed its deposit token JPM Coin on Ethereum, for its institutional clients only. Three Japanese banks, for their part, have tested a yen stablecoin, as our article on stablecoins in payments pointed out.
| Token | Issuer | Currency | Stage | Target audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RedCoin (RCHKD) | HSBC, a bank licensed by the HKMA | Hong Kong dollar | Gradual rollout since 23 October 2026 | PayMe users, within the group's applications |
| HKDAP | Anchorpoint Financial (Standard Chartered Hong Kong, HKT, Animoca Brands) | Not specified by the source | Launched in August 2026 | Institutional investors |
| USDT and USDC | Tether and Circle, crypto companies | US dollar | In circulation | Free circulation between wallets and exchanges |
| JPM Coin | J.P. Morgan (Kinexys unit) | US dollar | Deposit token, on Base since November 2025 and then on Ethereum | Institutional clients |
| Yen stablecoin | MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and SMBC | Yen | Test from 17 to 23 July 2026, first real transactions targeted by March 2027 | Users verified by the banks |
The orders of magnitude remain very different. According to DefiLlama, cited by Journal du Coin, USDT stood at 183 billion dollars and USDC at 72 billion as of 21 October 2026. On 21 October 2026, the US federal banking regulator published the first rule under the GENIUS Act, the US stablecoin law. The number of activated RedCoin wallets, for its part, has not been published.
The announced next step: tokenised funds
The next stage is a plan, not part of the launch. HSBC wants to integrate RedCoin into its Hong Kong banking app by the end of 2026. It would offer instant subscriptions to tokenised money market funds there, from 100 Hong Kong dollars, or around 12.75 US dollars according to the source.
"A conventional investment settlement can take days, but subscribing to tokenised funds via a stablecoin enables instant settlement and sharply lowers the entry threshold," says John O'Neill, HSBC's managing director of digital assets. The source gives no expected return for these funds.
HSBC is building on an existing digital business. It claims 8.3 billion dollars of digital bond issuances supported worldwide and 2.5 billion dollars traded on its tokenised gold products. It also operates the Orion platform for institutional bonds and a tokenised deposit service for large payments.
And in Switzerland, where does the stablecoin framework stand?
The documents of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) cited by 2clics do not describe a stablecoin issuer licence comparable to Hong Kong's. FINMA set out its doctrine on 11 September 2019, in a supplement to its guidelines on initial coin offerings. It examines each stablecoin on a case-by-case basis, according to its economic function.
The requirements depend on the backing assets and the holder's rights. Depending on the case, FINMA cites the Anti-Money Laundering Act, securities dealing, the Banking Act, the Collective Investment Schemes Act and the Financial Market Infrastructure Act (FMIA). Our page FINMA and cryptocurrencies details this framework.
The Libra project served as an example in 2019. FINMA considered that it would need a payment system licence under the FMIA, with requirements for capital, liquidity and reserve management. The issuer alone was to bear the gains and risks of this management. The table which FINMA crypto licence places this case among the other activities.
Swiss banks remain cautious about stablecoins. In the University of St. Gallen's Swiss Blockchain Survey 2026, 80% of the 25 institutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein surveyed see stablecoins and central bank digital currencies as the major trend of the next three to five years. But only 20% already offer stablecoin or settlement services, 20% plan to do so and 60% have no plans at all. For 46% of them, regulatory or compliance requirements hold back blockchain offerings.
What this means for a customer in Switzerland
RedCoin does not directly concern Swiss customers. It lives in a Hong Kong app, and the source mentions no opening outside Hong Kong. It does, however, illustrate a model: a major bank slips a stablecoin into an app already in use, without asking the customer or the merchant to do anything new.
RedCoin is designed to keep a fixed value against the Hong Kong dollar. The source mentions no return paid to its holders. The tokenised money market funds announced for later are a separate product, whose terms have not been published. This article does not constitute an investment recommendation.
What we don't know yet
- The blockchain on which RedCoin is issued has not been disclosed.
- Access to wallets outside HSBC is not mentioned. Without this opening, the token remains an internal payment infrastructure rather than a tradable asset.
- HSBC has published neither the number of activated wallets nor the amount of RedCoin in circulation.
- The FINMA documents on stablecoins cited by 2clics date from 2019. They do not say how this practice has evolved since.
