HSBC Launches RedCoin Stablecoin on PayMe

HSBC has switched on its first stablecoin. HSBC RedCoin, a Hong Kong dollar token with the ticker RCHKD, became available on the bank’s PayMe app on 23 October, according to HSBC’s launch release. It is issued under a licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and can be used to pay friends and shops.

The launch is gradual. HSBC says over 3.3 million PayMe users “will be able to activate a stablecoin wallet in-app” in the coming days, which is the number who can sign up, not the number who have. On launch day, HSBC’s own reserve page showed about HKD 80.6 million of RedCoin in circulation.

In brief

What happened: HSBC launched RedCoin (RCHKD), a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, on PayMe for person-to-person and merchant payments. Why it matters: It is issued under Hong Kong’s new licensing regime, which has licensed only two issuers, by a bank with a large retail base. What’s next: HSBC plans a wallet in its HK banking app and tokenised fund subscriptions “later this year”.

What users can do with it

Once activated, the PayMe wallet supports two things, according to the release: sending RedCoin “instantly to friends and family”, and paying “at more than 100,000 merchants through PayMe”. HSBC’s RedCoin product page says any business that accepts PayMe can be paid from a RedCoin balance, so users need not check for RedCoin acceptance separately.

The coin is “redeemable 1:1 for HKD, subject to applicable terms and conditions”, the page says. It also states plainly that RedCoin “is NOT a protected deposit” under Hong Kong’s Deposit Protection Scheme. Coins are created and moved by smart contracts on “HSBC’s own DLT network”, not on a public blockchain.

Before launch, HSBC said staff pilots “with nearly 100 users tested the full customer journey, from minting and wallet activation to live transfers”. PayMe’s head, Lawrence Li, told reporters that “the key priority in the first phase is ensuring stable service, avoiding extra burdens for customers and winning their trust”, the South China Morning Post reported.

The licence behind it

HSBC is one of two firms on the HKMA’s register of licensed stablecoin issuers. Its licence, FRS02, took effect on 10 April 2026, the same day as Anchorpoint Financial Limited’s FRS01. HSBC said in its April licence announcement that it planned a launch in the second half of 2026.

“Money, assets and information are moving from traditional infrastructure to always-on, data-rich and increasingly programmable digital networks,” said Maggie Ng, HSBC’s chief executive for Hong Kong.

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

Later this year HSBC plans a wallet in its HK banking app and the ability to buy tokenised investments with RedCoin, starting with “a soon-to-be-launched share class of HSBC’s long-running HKD money market fund”. RedCoin sits alongside the bank’s tokenised deposit service and its earlier test of AI-agent micropayments with Ant Digital. Hong Kong has also used tokens for government debt, as TSN noted in its round-up of central banks going onchain.

3.3 million is a ceiling for now, not a user count

The headline number in HSBC’s release is 3.3 million, but that is PayMe’s user base, the same figure HSBC gave in April. The release says those users “will be able to activate” a wallet “in the coming days”. HSBC has not said how many have done so.

The figure HSBC does publish is smaller and more useful. Its reserve page showed HKD 80,581,048.16 in circulation as of 23 October, after a seven-day rise of HKD 79,318,300.96. That is a real starting balance, but a modest one for a bank of HSBC’s size, and it comes before the wider roll-out.

The page also lists reserve assets of HKD 81,581,048.16, about HKD 1 million more than the coins in circulation. Those figures are HSBC’s own for now. The first report from an independent auditor is “expected to be published after Q4 2026”, so outside checks on the reserves are at least a quarter away. Readers comparing RedCoin with other bank tokens, such as JPMorgan’s deposit token on Ethereum, should watch the circulation figure and the first attestation, not the size of the app’s user base.

A bank-run coin in closed apps keeps control tight and reach narrow

RedCoin is built to stay inside HSBC’s walls. It runs on the bank’s own ledger, is sold only through PayMe and, later, the HSBC HK App, and cannot move between the two: the product page says users “won’t be able to transfer HSBC RedCoin between the stablecoin wallets on PayMe and the HSBC HK App”.

For compliance teams, that design has clear benefits. HSBC says the coin meets the “high standards of financial crime controls” Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance requires, and keeping every holder inside its own apps makes customer checks and transaction monitoring simpler. It also helps the bank’s warning against fake coins: HSBC says RedCoin “is not offered through any other third-party channels or platforms”.

The trade-off is reach. A stablecoin that cannot leave two apps works more like a digital wallet balance than a token that moves freely across platforms. The US is taking a different, rule-based route for issuers, as TSN reported on the OCC’s GENIUS Act rule. How far RedCoin grows beyond PayMe will depend on the products HSBC has promised but not yet dated.

What to watch

Three things will show whether RedCoin takes off: the daily circulation figure as the roll-out widens, the HSBC HK App launch, and the first independent attestation after the fourth quarter. HSBC has given dates for none of the next steps beyond “later this year”.