Anchorpoint Financial, a Hong Kong-licensed stablecoin issuer, has added HashKey Exchange as an authorized distributor for its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, HKDAP, potentially expanding access to the fiat-backed asset as Hong Kong’s regulated stablecoin market takes shape.

The companies announced on Tuesday that the arrangement is part of a beta rollout allowing eligible institutions and professional investors to access the stablecoin through HashKey and other supported channels. HashKey said it has already completed its first HKDAP minting and redemption transaction with eligible clients, including fiat on- and off-ramping.

The companies said they plan to expand distribution over time and explore additional uses for HKDAP, including cross-border payments, settlement and tokenized finance.

HKDAP, short for “HKD At Par,” is a regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin designed to function as tokenized money for payments and other financial transactions. Anchorpoint is a joint venture established by Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT and Animoca Brands, and was among the first companies to receive a stablecoin issuer license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

As Cointelegraph reported, Anchorpoint was established in April 2025, two months after Standard Chartered and Animoca announced plans to launch a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin.

Related: Circle expands USDC to OKX ecosystem with X Layer launch

Hong Kong stablecoin market takes shape

Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoins could develop into a sizable market, with a 2025 Citi report estimating that circulation could reach $16 billion following the introduction of the city’s stablecoin licensing regime.

For now, however, US dollar-pegged tokens account for the overwhelming majority of the global stablecoin market, while synthetic stablecoins represent a smaller emerging segment. Reliable data on the circulation and adoption of Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoins remains limited, making it difficult to gauge the market’s current size or growth trajectory.

Meanwhile, stablecoin transactions continue to surge, with the combined adjusted transaction volume of USDC (USDC) and USDt (USDT) reaching roughly $3.8 trillion in the first quarter of the year, according to Bernstein. 

Magazine: The real reason DeFi projects that survived 2022 crash are shutting down now

Like any regulated trading platform under authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, prediction markets firms try to encourage heavy traders and for firms to act as market makers in ways that can deepen participation and trading volume. But the CFTC is concerned about how they’re doing it, according to guidance issued on Wednesday.

The U.S. derivatives regulator cautioned the event-contracts platforms that it’s seeing an increase in their filings in pursuit of incentive programs, and they are often “procedurally or substantively deficient,” the document said. That hinders the agency from figuring out whether the platform “has provided adequate notice of the terms of the program and sufficiently evaluated the program’s compliance.”

The CFTC is seeing some of the features of these rewards programs “present compliance concerns.” Some of the rewards for high-volume participants can encourage them “to trade solely to reach volume targets, heightening risks of wash-trading, pre-arranged trading, or other fraudulent, manipulative, or disruptive trading practices.”

And market-maker programs, in which firms are encouraged to handle either side of a market, have been guaranteeing net process or to cover losses “through stipends and rebates,” which the regulator warned could also encourage fraudulent behavior and market manipulation.

The Bank of England’s Digital Pound Lab is testing whether stablecoins and a potential digital British pound can operate within the same cross-border payment flow as part of an experiment focused on trade finance.

The experiment involves NOBO Finance, Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon Labs, with an exporter receiving an advance via a stablecoin rail while a UK importer completes settlement using simulated digital pounds, according to a Wednesday announcement from the three companies.

The project also includes a separate workstream aimed at creating reusable credit profiles for small businesses by combining transaction data, open-finance information and Dun & Bradstreet’s commercial risk data, with Polygon providing the smart contract infrastructure.

The test is aimed at reducing settlement delays and financing constraints for small- and medium-sized businesses engaged in cross-border trade. Exporters can wait days to receive payment after shipping goods, tying up working capital and making access to trade finance particularly important for smaller firms.

The Digital Pound Lab uses no real customers or money, and the Bank of England has not committed to issuing a digital pound. The central bank has said that participant-designed experiments in the lab should not be interpreted as indications of future bank policy or as endorsements of the companies or their products.

Related: UK regulators to prepare tokenized gold framework: Report

UK pushes ahead with stablecoin, tokenization framework

The Digital Pound Lab experiment comes as UK regulators develop rules for stablecoins while preparing the country’s financial infrastructure for a broader shift toward tokenized assets.

In June, the Bank of England published draft rules for sterling-denominated stablecoins considered systemic to the UK financial system. The proposal allows issuers to hold as much as 70% of their reserves in interest-bearing government debt and introduces a temporary 40-billion-pound ($52.8 billion) issuance cap for each systemic stablecoin, replacing previously proposed limits on individual and business holdings.

The central bank aims to finalize the rules by the end of 2026 ahead of a planned 2027 rollout. Stablecoins deemed systemic, meaning their use is significant enough to potentially pose risks to UK financial stability, would fall under the Bank of England’s regulatory regime, while non-systemic stablecoins would remain under the country’s Financial Conduct Authority.

Systemic stablecoins entail payments and retail-focused tokens. Source: Bank of England

The regulatory work is unfolding alongside efforts to modernize traditional payment infrastructure. In May, the BoE proposed moving its Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Clearing House Automated Payments System (CHAPS) toward near-24/7 operation, including weekend and extended daily hours, in part to support cross-border payments and new settlement models as tokenization develops.

In July, the central bank also approved HSBC’s Orion platform to operate in the UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox, where it is expected to support digital bond issuance, including the country’s planned Digital Gilt Instrument.

Magazine: El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment turns 5: ‘It was for us, not them’

Securitize (SECZ) shares plunged 20% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the tokenization firm fell short of Wall Street’s second-quarter expectations in its first earnings report since going public last month.

The company, best known for issuing and managing BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized money-market fund, reported revenue of $14.4 million, down 5% from a year earlier and missing analyst estimates of $20.6 million.

Securitize posted a $2.37 per-share loss, compared with an expected loss of just $0.15 per share. Its net loss totaled $21.7 million, while adjusted EBITDA swung to a $5.5 million loss from a $1.8 million gain a year ago.

Wall Street has grown increasingly excited about tokenization, the effort to bring funds, equities and other financial assets onto blockchain rails. Securitize sits at the center of that push, but the growing interest has yet to materialize as sustained revenue growth.

CEO Carlos Domingo called the quarter “softer” when reporting earnings on Wednesday, while pointing to a stronger start to the year. First-half revenue remained 16% higher year-over-year, including a record $19.5 million in the first quarter.