Standard Chartered-backed Anchorpoint launches HKDAP stablecoin

Anchorpoint, the Standard Chartered-backed stablecoin issuer, launched HKDAP on August 12, OSL Group announced, opening a beta phase that lets institutional and professional investors mint and redeem the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin through OSL as a confirmed distributor.

Anchorpoint Financial Limited was formed in February 2025 as a joint venture between Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), telecoms group HKT, and Web3 investor Animoca Brands. The company entered the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's 2024 stablecoin issuer sandbox and graduated to a full stablecoin issuer licence on April 10, 2026, one of the first two such licences the HKMA granted, alongside HSBC. HKDAP, short for "HKD At Par," is designed to stay backed 1:1 by Hong Kong dollar reserves held in segregated accounts, in line with reserve requirements under the city's Stablecoins Ordinance, which took effect August 1, 2025.

OSL Group's own announcement confirms it will handle on- and off-ramp, exchange, trading, and settlement services between fiat currency and HKDAP for institutional and professional clients during this beta phase. HashKey Exchange has appeared repeatedly in earlier press coverage as an expected additional distributor, and Standard Chartered's Hong Kong CEO Mary Huen had previously declined to name distributors ahead of the formal launch, but HashKey's participation has not been confirmed in Anchorpoint's or OSL's own launch-day materials.

“The long-term success of regulated stablecoins will depend on their ability to support real-economy applications.”

— Dominic Maffei, CEO and Co-Founder, Anchorpoint

OSL's chief executive framed the launch in similar terms, tying the product's value to whether it gets used rather than to the novelty of the license itself. "Regulated stablecoins will play a key role in connecting digital asset markets with mainstream economic activity," said Kevin Cui, OSL Group's Executive Director and CEO. Standard Chartered's group CEO Bill Winters struck a broader note when the licence itself was granted in April, describing the shift toward "a world where assets are natively digital, transparent and settled instantaneously."

• Anchorpoint: joint venture of Standard Chartered (HK), HKT, and Animoca Brands, formed February 2025
• Full stablecoin issuer licence granted April 10, 2026, one of the HKMA's first two, alongside HSBC
• HKDAP is 1:1 backed by segregated HKD reserves under Hong Kong's Stablecoins Ordinance (effective August 1, 2025)
• OSL Group is a confirmed distributor for the beta phase; HashKey Exchange is widely reported as a likely second distributor but not yet officially confirmed

The launch lands inside a wider pattern of licensed stablecoin issuers moving carefully rather than racing to retail. Hong Kong's regulators have spent the year tightening oversight elsewhere in the sector, too: a recent HKMA readiness index found local banks scoring just 2.3 out of 10 on quantum preparedness, a reminder that licensing alone doesn't settle every operational risk regulators are watching. Globally, stablecoin issuers have posted rising profits alongside licensing wins and at least one uncomfortable stress test this year, a mixed record HKDAP's beta-only rollout seems designed to avoid repeating. Restricting the first phase to institutional and professional investors, rather than opening mint-and-redeem access to the public immediately, gives Anchorpoint time to test settlement volumes and reserve operations under real transaction flow before retail money is at stake.

Nothing here should be taken as financial advice — just information to consider.