HSBC RedCoin HKD stablecoin launches on PayMe

At a glance

HSBC RedCoin (ticker RCHKD), a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin licensed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), is available from Friday on the bank’s PayMe app, HSBC said. It is the bank’s first stablecoin.
In the coming days, more than 3.3 million PayMe users can switch on a stablecoin wallet inside the app to send RedCoin to other people and pay more than 100,000 merchants, according to HSBC.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, HSBC’s Hong Kong bank, received its stablecoin issuer licence from the HKMA in April 2026. Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance has been in force since August 2025.

Before launch, close to 100 HSBC staff tried the whole process in pilots, from minting and opening a wallet to sending live transfers, the bank said.

“This is only the beginning,” said John O’Neill, HSBC’s managing director for digital assets and currencies. “We will soon add more products, including expanding into wholesale corporate and institutional use cases.”

What backs it

Each RedCoin is designed to be redeemable 1:1 for Hong Kong dollars, subject to its terms, and is backed by segregated reserve assets, HSBC’s product page says. HSBC Digital Assets Custody holds them.

On 23 Oct the page showed HKD 80.58 million (about $10.3 million, or €9.2 million) of RedCoin in circulation. It listed reserve assets with a market value of HKD 81.58 million, all of it in cash. Circulation rose by HKD 79.3 million over seven days.

Those figures are HSBC’s own. The first independent attestation is expected after the fourth quarter of 2026, the page says.

What it changes for users and merchants

PayMe users can hold a Hong Kong dollar token alongside their existing balance and use it for transfers and payments in the same app. HSBC is offering launch discounts on PayMe transactions and RewardCash points, without giving amounts in the release.

Merchants who already accept PayMe can be paid in RedCoin through the app. HSBC says RedCoin is available only through PayMe and, later, the HSBC HK app, and warns customers about fraudulent tokens using its name.

Later this year, HSBC plans to add a stablecoin wallet to its HSBC HK Mobile Banking app. Customers will also be able to use RedCoin to subscribe to tokenised investments, starting with a new share class of the bank’s Hong Kong dollar money market fund.

In a June 2026 online survey of 1,060 HSBC customers aged 18 to 64, 53% said Hong Kong dollar stablecoins could make the economy more competitive, the bank said.

For how reserves are meant to keep a stablecoin at par, see what a stablecoin is and how reserves back it.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s three megabanks are trialling a joint yen stablecoin.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.