Xu Zhengyu: Actively exploring the application of asset tokenization in real-world economic scenarios, plans to issue a limited number of stablecoin licenses next year

Foresight News reported, citing 21st Century Business Herald, that Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, systematically elaborated on Hong Kong’s strategic layout in fintech, asset management, and commodity markets in an exclusive interview. The aim is to leverage the advantages of “One Country, Two Systems” to build the nation’s “international asset safe deposit box” and serve the strategy of becoming a financial powerhouse. Hui emphasized that the goal of developing fintech is to “empower the real economy,” rather than speculative trading. Taking asset tokenization (Tokenization/RWA) as an example, he pointed out that Hong Kong is exploring its application in real economy scenarios such as international shipping leasing and corporate treasury management. He also mentioned that the successful issuance of the third batch of digital green bonds by the SAR government is an important step towards normalization.

Hong Kong has already passed relevant legislation, aiming to begin issuing stablecoin licenses next year. However, the initial number of licenses will be very limited, and regulation will be prudent, with a clear focus on stablecoins addressing real economy pain points such as cross-border payments, rather than serving as speculative tools. Hong Kong is actively attracting family offices and plans to submit a bill to the Legislative Council next year to expand the scope of tax exemptions to emerging product categories such as digital assets, private credit, and carbon credits, in order to better “capture” global capital.