HKMA Forms Expert Panel on Tokenized Bonds

The 21-member group is weighted toward banking: ten banks form its largest component, drawing from the Hong Kong arms of China's big five state banks alongside international institutions including Credit Agricole CIB, JP Morgan, HSBC, HSBC-owned Hang Seng Bank, Standard Chartered, and UBS. Non-bank participants include industry bodies ICMA and ASIFMA, five law firms, Ant Digital Technologies, investment firm Guotai Junan International, licensed crypto exchange HashKey, and HKMA subsidiary and central securities depository CMU Omniclear. The group held its first round of discussions in May, focusing specifically on how Hong Kong's existing legal and regulatory regime applies to tokenized bond issuance and transactions.

The HKMA's move formalizes a multi-year program that began in 2021 with a joint proof-of-concept study alongside the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre. The authority subsequently issued the world's first tokenized government green bond in 2023, the first multi-currency digital bond in 2024, and in November 2025 the largest digital bond issuance at the time — a HK$10 billion ($1.27 billion) instrument that was also the first digital bond to integrate tokenized central bank money for settlement using e-CNY and e-HKD. According to Ledger Insights reporting, Hong Kong ranked as the global leader in digital bond issuance in 2025.

The expert group's mandate extends beyond documentation of past achievements. The South China Morning Post reported that the HKMA intends to use the group's feedback to inform ongoing work with the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau on potential enhancements to Hong Kong's legal and regulatory regime. The May discussions covered how current rules apply to tokenized bond issuance and trading — a prerequisite for any formal regulatory update.

On the broader RWA market, Ethereum hosted 707 tokenized RWA instruments with a total value of $16.4 billion, representing a 52.13% share of the on-chain RWA market as tracked by RWA.xyz analytics. Total stablecoin value tracked by the same platform stood at $297.62 billion. CoinDesk, citing CoinGecko data, placed the total stablecoin market cap at approximately $325 billion, with Tether's USDT dominating at $115 billion.

Separately, Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard were reported to be jointly preparing a stablecoin platform, with Coinbase also evaluating participation. Stripe had already acquired stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge in late 2024 for $1.1 billion. Fortune noted that the three payment companies collectively handle a substantial share of everyday retail transactions, and that the proposed platform would carry implications for a stablecoin market valued above $300 billion. A revenue-sharing agreement between Coinbase and Circle Internet — issuer of the second-largest stablecoin — has been in place since August 2023 and is due for renewal in August 2026.

Several material details remain undisclosed. The HKMA's June 5 announcement did not specify a timeline for regulatory amendments, identify which legal provisions are under review, or commit to any particular legislative vehicle. The expert group's terms of reference, voting or consensus procedures, and the scope of any forthcoming consultation paper have not been published. On the stablecoin platform, no official announcement has been made by Stripe, Visa, or Mastercard; the platform's governance structure, issuer arrangements, supported currencies, and launch timeline have not been disclosed by any of the named parties.

The immediate effect of the HKMA's announcement is the formal constitution of a 21-institution advisory body whose May discussions are now on record as the first structured regulatory dialogue on tokenized bond rules in Hong Kong. The group does not itself hold rulemaking authority, and the announcement does not establish amended regulations, a new licensing category, or a live tokenized bond issuance program beyond those already completed.