HSBC launches RedCoin for PayMe payments in Hong Kong

HSBC launched RedCoin, its first Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, through its PayMe app on Oct. 23, giving the bank’s customers a way to send digital currency to friends and pay merchants. The bank said in its RedCoin launch announcement that the coin is licensed and regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), and that wallet access for PayMe users will roll out over the following days.

How do PayMe users make a payment with RedCoin?

HSBC’s described process starts with a user activating a stablecoin wallet inside PayMe. From there, users can send RedCoin to friends and family through peer-to-peer payments, or pay at more than 100,000 merchants through PayMe’s merchant-payment service. The app connects the wallet to existing payment routes: like using a balance in a payment app, the user starts the payment from the service they already use. HSBC says more than 3.3 million PayMe users will be able to activate wallets.

The bank says nearly 100 staff tested the customer journey before launch, from minting and wallet activation to live transfers. HSBC Digital Assets Custody provides safekeeping for RedCoin. The announcement does not specify which blockchain the coin uses, how users redeem it for Hong Kong dollars, or the size and composition of its reserves, so those parts of the operating model remain unclear from the published details.

What does the HKMA licence cover?

RedCoin is denominated in Hong Kong dollars and operates under HSBC’s stablecoin issuer licence, which the bank says the HKMA granted in April 2026. HSBC identifies its licence number as FRS02. The Hong Kong Stablecoins Ordinance sets the regulatory framework referenced in the announcement, and HSBC says the product follows its financial-crime controls.

The Block’s report on the retail rollout also describes RedCoin’s initial use as transfers between people and payments to merchants through PayMe. It reports that the HKMA issued its first stablecoin licences in April to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture involving Standard Chartered, HKT and Animoca Brands.

What comes next for RedCoin?

HSBC says it plans later this year to add RedCoin wallet functionality to its Hong Kong mobile banking app and let customers subscribe to tokenised investment products with the coin, including a planned share class of the bank’s Hong Kong dollar money market fund. It also says it intends to expand into wholesale corporate and institutional uses.

The change for now is that HSBC has introduced a regulated, HKD-denominated stablecoin for consumer payments inside PayMe. The next details to watch are when wallet activation reaches users, how the bank explains redemption and reserves, and whether it follows through on the planned banking-app and investment features.

References

• RedCoin launch announcement — about.hsbc.com.hk
• report on the retail rollout — theblock.co