Hong Kong Pushes for 24/7 Tokenised Settlement, Plans Stablecoin Trials

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Key takeaways

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority upgraded its Project Ensemble to facilitate 24/7 tokenised settlements.
Regulated stablecoins are set to be tested in upcoming trials involving tokenised government bonds.
HSBC reported that its newly launched RedCoin stablecoin gained 50,000 users within ten days.

Project Ensemble expansion

The Pilot Project Ensemble of Hong Kong has been enhanced to facilitate round-the-clock tokenised settlements, as the city's monetary authority is set to test regulated stablecoins in trials of tokenised government bonds. According to reports, on Monday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) revealed that its EnsembleTX project had progressed to a phase where 24/7 real-value transactions were now possible. According to the announcement from HKMA, the upgrade was intended to facilitate fund transfers between banks and their customers internationally, tokenised investments, and treasury management.

As per the announcement, the participating banks initially were using the existing dollar settlement system of Hong Kong to conduct settlements, and this restricted their settlement hours. However, when the pilot started testing the real value of the transaction in November 2025, the HKMA announced that it would introduce the tokenisation of the central bank money to enable round-the-clock settlement.

The HKMA initiated Project Ensemble in March 2024 to investigate how banks can use the wholesale central bank digital money for settling tokenised transactions. A sandbox was launched in August 2024, which allowed banks to connect their tokenised deposit platforms and test transactions.

Stablecoin trials and RedCoin adoption

Speaking during the Hong Kong FinTech Week on Monday, HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said that the authority is issuing tokenised central bank money as a “foundation layer” for 24-hour settlements. Tokenised bonds, money market funds, and bank deposits are already in use. The HKMA also noted that recognised dealers have made trial trades in secondary markets for tokenised Exchange Fund Bills, which are short-term debt instruments issued by the regulator. The regulator aims to extend its trials to regulated stablecoins.

In addition to that, Georges Elhedery, the CEO of HSBC Group, stated during Hong Kong FinTech Week that the newly issued Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, RedCoin, had 50,000 users within 10 days of launch. “We have 50,000 users,” Elhedery said, adding that HSBC was targeting “multi-million users” as it expands access to the token.

RedCoin's launch introduces stablecoins for retail payment purposes, while Ensemble has worked on settlement for bank-related transactions and tokenized assets. HSBC is also tokenizing deposits for its wholesale clients in Hong Kong and about six other jurisdictions, meaning money could be moved 24/7, Elhedery added.

RedCoin was introduced by the bank on October 23 to facilitate transactions and payments made by merchants using the PayMe application. HSBC noted that more than 3.3 million PayMe users can create wallets to use the stablecoin. It also plans to offer the stablecoin within its mobile banking app and to subscribe to tokenised investments such as the HKD money market fund share class.

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