Hong Kong's HKMA moves EnsembleTX to 24/7 settlement, plans stablecoin trials

Settlement moves off banking hours

The HKMA said the upgrade would help banks and their clients move funds globally, manage tokenized investments and handle treasury operations outside conventional settlement hours. That's the gap it's trying to close. Participating banks initially settled payments through Hong Kong's existing dollar settlement system (which limited settlement hours), and when the pilot began real-value trials in November 2025, the regulator said it planned to introduce tokenized central bank money to enable round-the-clock settlement.

Speaking at Hong Kong FinTech Week, HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said the regulator was introducing tokenized central bank money as a "foundation layer" for 24/7 settlement. He said tokenized bonds, money market funds and bank deposits were already being used.

The groundwork isn't new. The HKMA launched Project Ensemble in March 2024 to explore how banks could settle tokenized transactions using wholesale central bank digital money, and a sandbox opened that August so banks could connect tokenized deposit platforms and test transactions.

Stablecoins head for the Exchange Fund Bills trials

According to the HKMA, recognized dealers have completed secondary-market trial trades in tokenized Exchange Fund Bills (short-term debt issued by the regulator). It plans to expand those trials to include regulated stablecoins.

For now, that's a plan rather than a live trial.

Hong Kong's licensing regime, introduced in August 2025, requires issuers to meet standards for backing reserves, redemption and risk management. HSBC was among the city's first licensed stablecoin issuers in April, alongside Anchorpoint Financial (a venture backed by Animoca Brands and Standard Chartered).

HSBC's RedCoin goes retail

HSBC launched RedCoin on Oct. 23 for transfers and merchant payments through its PayMe app. The bank said more than 3.3 million PayMe customers could activate stablecoin wallets to use the token.

“We have 50,000 users,” Elhedery said, adding that HSBC was targeting “multi-million users” as it expands access to the token.

Those figures come from Elhedery's remarks and haven't been independently verified. HSBC also plans to bring RedCoin into its mobile banking app and allow subscriptions to tokenized investments, including a Hong Kong dollar money market fund share class. Elhedery said the bank was offering tokenized deposits to wholesale clients in Hong Kong and about half a dozen other jurisdictions, allowing round-the-clock fund movement.

The two efforts aren't aimed at the same users. RedCoin targets retail payments, while Ensemble's settlement work has focused on transactions involving banks and tokenized investments.