10-01-2026 
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TL;DR: HSBC will launch its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, HSBC RedCoin, via PayMe before year-end, as Asia’s stablecoin use grows despite a 6.8% regional crypto contraction. The UAE is piloting dirham stablecoin retail payments, euro-backed stablecoins passed $900 million, and the ECB is exploring AI for the digital euro.
Key Takeaways:
- HSBC RedCoin embraces the new while honoring the old andwill launch via the PayMe app before the end of 2026.
- Asia stablecoin adoption ignores crypto economy decline: Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania’s crypto economy shrank 6.8%.
- HSBC survey found 26% of Hong Kong customers wrongly believed stablecoins are government-issued.
- UAE SMEs are embracing stablecoins as a digital dirham retail pilot launch.
- Euro-backed stablecoins top $900 million.
Hong Kong’s newest stablecoin is on the launchpad, Asian stablecoin adoption is bucking the broader crypto economy decline, and euro-backed tokens are hitting new highs.
On Wednesday, global banking giant HSBC (NASDAQ: HSBC) announced that its soon-to-be-released Hong Kong stablecoin will be known as HSBC RedCoin. HSBC’s Hong Kong CEO Maggie Ng said the name was chosen “to reflect our heritage” (the bank’s corporate color is red).
Ng said RedCoin “isn’t a leap into the unknown—it’s a natural next step,” adding that the ultimate goal is “to support Hong Kong’s financial innovation, underpinned by the security, trust and simplicity that define HSBC.”
HSBC RedCoin will be made available through the bank’s PayMe app, which currently boasts 3.3 million users. Initially, the token will be accepted for peer-to-peer transfers and peer-to-merchant payments before expanding to wholesale corporate and institutional use cases. Subscribing to tokenized investment products via the bank’s Hong Kong mobile banking app will be allowed once these products are approved by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
HSBC was among the first entities approved by the HKMA to issue Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoins under the special administrative region’s Stablecoins Ordinance. Last month, the Hong Kong division of U.K. bankers Standard Chartered (NASDAQ: SCBFF) announced that it would distribute HKDAP, the HKD stablecoin issued by Anchorpoint.
HSBC has yet to announce an exact launch date, but has been promising that the token will make its formal debut before the year is through. The bank also promised to conduct an education campaign “focused on scam prevention and transparent redemption mechanisms,” as well as to ensure that Hong Kong residents grasp the nuances of stablecoin technology.
That’s a good idea, as HSBC released a survey of 1,000 local customers that found 26% of them believed stablecoins were government-issued, while 10% believed the tokens were interest-bearing instruments (something the HKMA hasn’t approved).
But 60% of users understood stablecoins as fiat-backed digital assets, while nearly three-quarters (76%) recognized at least one use case for stablecoins. Of these, digital asset trading and tokenized investments (57%) led the pack, followed by P2P transfers (53%), cross-border remittances (52%), and merchant payments (52%).
The survey also dug into what would make users more confident in adopting stablecoin tech, including stronger regulatory clarity (62%), enhanced education (55%), fraud protection (53%), seamless conversion to cash (51%), and reserve transparency (39%).
These figures mirror the sentiments in a recent stablecoin remittances report by credit card outfit Visa (NASDAQ: V), which revealed widespread global agreement on the need for ‘bank-level fraud protection and deposit insurance’ if stablecoins are to achieve critical mass beyond the crypto-committed.
Ng said the survey “confirms the strong interest amongst Hongkongers in embracing digital assets,” adding that HSBC’s education program “will ensure every customer feels equipped and confident to join the journey.”
Stablecoins all the rage across Asia
Hong Kong wasn’t included in Chainalysis’s latest regional crypto adoption report, which focused on Central & Southeast Asia and Oceania (CSAO), the sixth-largest crypto region globally. Overall, the CSAO’s crypto economy (service inflows, within-country peer-to-peer and cross-border value received) contracted 6.8% in the 12 months ending June 30 compared to the prior period.
Singapore ranked highest among the 10 CSAO nations in the report, with total crypto economic activity of just over $284 billion. Runner-up Australia was well back at $173.1 billion, followed by India ($135 billion), Vietnam ($122.2 billion), Indonesia ($83.2 billion), Thailand ($82.8 billion), the Philippines ($30.1 billion), Malaysia ($29.7 billion), and Bangladesh ($23.2 billion).
The rankings look a lot different when cross-border stablecoin transfers are compared with within-country transfers. In all markets studied, cross-border stablecoin activity exceeded domestic. The CSAO average ratio of cross-border to domestic stablecoin transfers is 3.2x, and only Vietnam (1.5x) and Thailand (2.7x) fall below this ratio.
Malaysia’s ratio was a whopping 29.5x, with $367.6 million in stablecoin transfers crossing its borders versus just $12.5 million within its borders. Chainalysis says this reflects well-established local digital payment rails that diminish the appeal of stablecoins for domestic transfers. The next-highest ratios were in Cambodia (7.6x), the Philippines (7.1x), Singapore (7x), and Indonesia (6.5x).
These lopsided ratios are driven by remittances, with Nichel Gaba, CEO of the Philippines-based exchange PDAX, saying, “probably around 5-10% of inbound remittances are being settled with stablecoins.”
In dollar terms, the largest domestic stablecoin transfers occur in Thailand ($10.4 billion), Vietnam ($6.9 billion), Australia ($1.8 billion), and Singapore ($1.2 billion), but all of these figures represent fractions of their respective cross-border volumes.
B2B cross-border transfers are undergoing similar surges, as corporate treasuries and regional merchants seek to minimize delays, reduce fees, and side-step ‘banking inefficiencies.’
But small-value transactions (both within-country and cross-border) are soaring in certain markets. Combined, there were 5.4 million small-value P2P transfers (under $10,000) in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam during the period in question. These represented 14.4% of the global total, despite these three countries accounting for just 2.5% of the global crypto economy. The average domestic transfer amount across these three countries was $618, roughly half the $1,210 average for the rest of the world.
In Australia, the dollar value of outbound stablecoin transfers soared to $3 billion in the period studied, triple the sum from one year prior. There were ~2 million individual transfers, twice the number of those involving BTC.
UAE embracing stablecoins
A new survey by credit card giant Mastercard (NASDAQ: MA) found that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East and Africa are among the global leaders in adopting digital assets, and stablecoins in particular, for business payments. Across 18 surveyed nations, 15% accept some form of cryptocurrency as payment, while 8% use stablecoins to pay business expenses.
The report singled out the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for special mention, noting that 14% of SMEs accept crypto payments and 10% both accept payments and pay their own bills with stablecoins. Mastercard proudly notes that it enabled stablecoin transactions in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) last year.
The UAE has been among the world’s more forward-looking nations in digital asset regulation and oversight, reflecting its desire to maintain its status as a global financial hub that keeps pace with fintech developments. Major stablecoin issuers like Circle (NASDAQ: CRCL) and Tether have received approval to operate in the region’s economic free zones, while Abu Dhabi has approved stablecoins denominated in the local dirham currency.
Speaking of which, this month saw major retailers in the UAE launch a pilot program to accept payments in the DDSC, a dirham-denominated stablecoin, for the first time. A Dubai branch of the U.K.’s Marks & Spencer chain and the Lulu Hypermarket in Abu Dhabi have teamed up with fintech firm Network International on the pilot program. Customers can scan point-of-sale QR codes using their DDSC-supported wallets, and merchants can choose settlement in either DDSC or dirhams.
Euro-backed stablecoins hit new high, digital euro seeks new lows
Shifting north, euro-backed stablecoins’ overall market cap topped $900 million for the first time this week, according to Token Terminal stats. This category was led (as always) by Circle’s EURC token, which claimed a $527.3 million slice of the dollar value of this euro stable pie.
Second place went to EURCV, issued by Société Générale (NASDAQ: SCGLY), at $171.4 million, with third place going to EURXT, issued this summer by Crédit Agricole, at $62 million. (Crédit Agricole recently signed on to the 21-bank consortium looking to issue stablecoins based on G7 members’ native currencies, starting with the dollar, then the euro, then who knows.)
It should be noted that the overall stablecoin market is thoroughly dominated by dollar-backed tokens, which account for 99.5% of the current cap of ~$301 billion. Their euro-backed counterparts claim only 0.3% of this pie, while Japanese yen-backed tokens are a mere 0.1% ($232 million) of the overall.
Meanwhile, the digital euro project isn’t likely to be formally issued until 2029, but that isn’t stopping the European Central Bank (ECB) from seeking to link its long-delayed central bank digital currency (CBDC) to all the excitement over stablecoin-based agentic AI payments.
On September 28, the ECB called for “expressions of interest in a new wave of digital euro innovation platform activities,” with plans for a series of ‘workshops on exploration activities.’ One of these workshops will focus on “the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in payments” and “the potential applications of AI in the context of the digital euro.”
You have to give it to the ECB for gamely trying to herd all the EU cats into making some decision on something at some point. On the plus side, AI will likely have destroyed humanity long before the digital euro gets off the drawing board, so the mocking from private-sector stablecoin issuers (at least the human ones) will have abated by then.
In the meantime, stakeholders interested in participating in the ECB’s digital euro workshops are encouraged to tie a note to the ankle of their swiftest carrier pigeon so that the application arrives by 5 p.m. on November 9.
FAQs:
What is HSBC RedCoin?
HSBC RedCoin is HSBC’s upcoming Hong Kong dollar stablecoin. It will launch through the PayMe app for peer-to-peer and merchant payments, then expand to corporate and institutional use.
When will HSBC RedCoin launch?
HSBC hasn’t given an exact date, but says it will debut before the end of the year.
Is HSBC RedCoin approved by the HKMA?
HSBC is among the first banks approved by the HKMA to issue Hong Kong dollar stablecoins under the Stablecoins Ordinance. Tokenized investment products still need separate approval.
Are stablecoins government-issued?
No. Private companies and banks issue them. Government-issued digital money is a central bank digital currency (CBDC), like the planned digital euro.
Why is stablecoin use growing in Asia while crypto shrinks?
Growth is driven mainly by cross-border payments and remittances. Cross-border stablecoin activity exceeded domestic activity in every market Chainalysis studied.
Can you pay with stablecoins in the UAE?
Yes, in a limited pilot. Marks & Spencer in Dubai and Lulu Hypermarket in Abu Dhabi accept the DDSC dirham stablecoin through QR codes.
How big is the euro stablecoin market?
It topped $900 million for the first time, led by Circle’s EURC at $527.3 million. That’s just 0.3% of the total stablecoin market.
When will the digital euro launch?
It isn’t expected to be formally issued until 2029.
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