Hong Kong’s New Digital Asset Licensing Rules May Pass by End of Year, Lawmaker Says

The significance here is less the timeline than the scope: folding custody into the same regime as trading would push Hong Kong past the exchange-only frameworks many jurisdictions have settled for, potentially reshaping where institutional digital asset activity can be domiciled. The detail on the two licensed stablecoin issuers testing distinct use cases suggests the regime is being built around issuance and custody together rather than in sequence. Whether the bill reaches LegCo on schedule, and whether the stablecoin pilots converge on a common model, are the open questions.