Hong Kong’s Crypto Leap: Animoca Brands & Standard Chartered Partner to Pioneer Game-Changing Stablecoin

Hong Kong’s crypto ambitions just got a major boost—two financial heavyweights are teaming up to rewrite the rules.

The Players: Animoca Brands, the blockchain gaming titan, and Standard Chartered, the banking giant, are joining forces to launch a Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoin. No more vague promises—this is concrete progress.

Why It Matters: While Wall Street still debates regulation, Asia’s financial hub is charging ahead. A regulated stablecoin could bridge TradFi and DeFi, giving institutional investors the on-ramp they’ve been waiting for. (And yes, it might finally shut up the ‘crypto has no real use case’ crowd.)

The Bottom Line: Another win for Hong Kong’s Web3 push—because nothing says ‘global financial center’ like letting banks and blockchain rebels build the future together. Just don’t expect the usual suspects to admit they were wrong.

Animoca Brands supports global stablecoin transfers

Animoca Brands has shifted its focus from its previous funding activity and Web3 projects, seeing the potential of stablecoins. The Web3 fund still sits on significant ETH reserves, which can be used to generate liquidity. 

Animoca Brands itself uses USDT and USDC for its day-to-day activities and general transfers. The startup is active in trading and provides liquidity to other protocols.

Over the years, Animoca Brand has raised more than $825M, reinvesting a part in new startups, games, NFT collections, AI and most of the latest crypto trends. Stablecoins are also trending, with signs of mainstream searches and general uses for both fully regulated and still grey-area assets. 

Animoca Brands has not announced the type of planned stablecoin. In most highly regulated environments, stablecoins rely on fiat bank reserves or partial backing by bonds. The fund also pointed out the benefits of stablecoins as an alternative to global remittances. 

“Global money that moves with speed and stability.” 💰🪙

Stablecoins are quietly revolutionizing how money moves across the globe. Imagine sending a digital dollar as seamlessly as a WhatsApp message—no bank hours, no wire delays, no sky-high fees. 👇 pic.twitter.com/znocm7VXB0

— Animoca Brands (@animocabrands) August 8, 2025

Standard Chartered has also accumulated experience with stablecoins and tokenization through its Libeara platform on Ethereum. The L1 chain remains the main venue for stablecoin issuers and transfers, with the biggest open liquidity market. 

Are Hong Kong’s stablecoin rules too strict?

Animoca Brands has spoken of the stablecoin market as a free-for-all. However, the Hong Kong Stablecoin Ordinance remains extremely strict for both issuers and end users. 

All stablecoin issuers must also comply with KYC and other customer identification rules, potentially limiting stablecoin adoption. Currently, the most widely used stablecoin for payments is USDC, especially in its TRON version.

Despite the strict regulations, Hong Kong has stated its intentions of becoming a crypto hub, testing out new tools to regulate and track usage. Stablecoins have grown significantly, at over $250B in total supply, sparking fears their activity may start undermining the effect of central banks and fiat usage. 

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