HSBC Launches RedCoin, Its First Hong Kong Dollar Stablecoin, for 3.3 Million PayMe Users

RedCoin (RCHKD) is issued under the HKMA stablecoin licence HSBC received in April, and PayMe users can activate a wallet in the coming days to pay friends and more than 100,000 merchants. HSBC plans to add the token to its Hong Kong banking app and use it for tokenised fund subscriptions later this year.

HSBC Launches RedCoin, Its First Hong Kong Dollar Stablecoin, for 3.3 Million PayMe Users — editorial cover artwork
HSBC Launches RedCoin, Its First Hong Kong Dollar Stablecoin, for 3.3 Million PayMe Users — editorial cover artwork

By Wei Jie Tan, Journalist, Asia Markets

HSBC launched HSBC RedCoin (ticker: RCHKD), its first stablecoin, on 23 October 2026. The token is denominated in Hong Kong dollars and is available from launch on PayMe by HSBC, the bank's consumer payments app. HSBC says more than 3.3 million PayMe users will be able to activate a stablecoin wallet inside the app "in the coming days" and use it to send money to friends and family and to pay more than 100,000 merchants that accept PayMe.

The issuer is The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, which received a stablecoin issuer licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in April 2026. The release gives the licence number as FRS02. HSBC says RedCoin meets the financial crime controls required by Hong Kong's Stablecoins Ordinance. HSBC Digital Assets Custody safekeeps the token.

A stablecoin inside an existing wallet

RedCoin does not ask users to open a crypto exchange account or download a separate wallet. It sits inside an app that already has a large user base and a merchant network. HSBC says staff pilots with nearly 100 users tested the full journey before launch, from minting and wallet activation to live transfers.

The bank cites its own survey as the reason for this design. In June 2026 it polled 1,060 HSBC customers aged 18 to 64, and found that easy access through existing apps and faster payments and settlement were among the strongest drivers of stablecoin adoption. In the same survey, 53% said HKD stablecoins could strengthen Hong Kong's economic competitiveness. These are HSBC's own survey results.

What comes next

HSBC set out three next steps, none of them live yet:

  • adding stablecoin wallet functionality to the HSBC HK Mobile Banking App later this year;
  • letting customers subscribe to tokenised investment products with RedCoin, starting with a new share class of HSBC's long-running HKD money market fund;
  • expanding into wholesale corporate and institutional use cases, which John O'Neill, HSBC's Managing Director for Digital Assets and Currencies, said would come "soon".

PayMe is offering transaction discounts and RewardCash to mark the launch.

Why distribution is the story

Hong Kong's first two stablecoin issuer licences went to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a Standard Chartered-led venture, in April. CoinDesk reports that Anchorpoint began a limited rollout of its HKDAP token in August, focused on institutional payments and settlement. HSBC has gone the other way and started with retail.

That gives RedCoin something most new stablecoins lack on day one: a group-owned wallet with millions of users and a merchant base that already accepts it. The same banking group issues the token, holds it in custody and runs the app. A payment can therefore stay inside one group from issuance to the merchant. The link to the money market fund points to a second use: a programmable cash leg for buying tokenised products from the same bank.

The release leaves several points open. It does not say which blockchain RedCoin uses, whether users can withdraw RCHKD to wallets outside PayMe, what fees apply, or how the reserves are composed. Those details will decide whether RedCoin works as an open, interoperable HKD token or mainly as a new balance type inside HSBC's own apps.

Sources

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