Standard Chartered venture Anchorpoint begins Hong Kong dollar stablecoin rollout

Aug 12 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered's joint venture Anchorpoint Financial said on Wednesday it had begun the first ‌phase of the rollout of its Hong Kong dollar-backed ‌stablecoin, offering limited access to institutional distributors and professional investors.

The stablecoin, called ​HKD At Par (HKDAP), will allow initial distributors and users to integrate it into commercial applications, the company said.

Authorised distributors will offer conversion between HKDAP and fiat currency for institutions, corporate ‌users and professional investors, ⁠drawing on their existing client networks to integrate HKDAP into commercial and financial activities, Anchorpoint ⁠said.

"Our immediate focus is on supporting the development of commercial applications that demonstrate the value of regulated tokenised money in ​real-world settings, ​including payments and settlement use ​cases," said Dominic Maffei, ‌Anchorpoint chief executive and co-founder.

Anchorpoint Financial, a Standard Chartered joint venture with Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Telecommunications, said it is targeting broader retail adoption as early as the end of 2026, depending on market conditions.

It added that it ‌is adopting a business-to-business-to-consumer model to ​expand participation through agreements with distributors ​and use-case partners to ​bring regulated tokenised money into real-economy applications.

The ‌launch comes after the Hong ​Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) ​in early April approved HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial to issue fiat-backed stablecoins.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a ​constant value and ‌are usually pegged to a fiat currency such as ​the U.S. dollar.