Over the weekend, I came across a piece of news more interesting than the market action: HSBC’s Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, RedCoin (ticker: RCHKD), launched on PayMe on October 23. PayMe has more than 3.3 million users and over 100,000 merchants. Stablecoin wallets will be rolled out over the next few days, letting users transfer money and pay by scanning a code once their wallet is activated.
Many people’s first reaction is that a traditional banking giant entering the space is bullish for crypto. After reading through the terms, I’m taking a more measured view. The coin runs on HSBC’s own ledger and can only be bought, sold, or redeemed through PayMe and, later, the HSBC HK App. The official terms state that it won’t be offered through any third-party channels and can be exchanged back into Hong Kong dollars at a 1:1 rate, with the money arriving within one business day. Put simply, it’s more like Hong Kong dollars in a digital wallet. For now, it’s largely disconnected from on-chain liquidity and the coins we trade day to day.
The direction of travel is what’s really worth noting. Hong Kong issued its first stablecoin issuer licences only in April this year, and HSBC received one. Anchorpoint, led by Standard Chartered, had already launched HKDAP in August. In the US, the OCC finalized its stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act this week, with the rules taking effect on January 18 next year. Regulators on both sides are turning stablecoins into legitimate payment tools. That lays the groundwork for the industry over the long term; it’s not fuel for this week’s candlestick chart.
In the short term, we still need to watch where the money is flowing. On October 22, US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $635 million in a single day. Bitcoin is now at $BTC , or $80,607, down 1.3% over 24 hours. It dipped as low as $80,451, just a step away from the $80,000 round-number mark. So I’m filing this news under medium-term narratives, not treating it as a reason to go long tonight: let’s talk about a rebound if $80,000 holds; if it doesn’t, $79.8K is the next level to watch.
Many people’s first reaction is that a traditional banking giant entering the space is bullish for crypto. After reading through the terms, I’m taking a more measured view. The coin runs on HSBC’s own ledger and can only be bought, sold, or redeemed through PayMe and, later, the HSBC HK App. The official terms state that it won’t be offered through any third-party channels and can be exchanged back into Hong Kong dollars at a 1:1 rate, with the money arriving within one business day. Put simply, it’s more like Hong Kong dollars in a digital wallet. For now, it’s largely disconnected from on-chain liquidity and the coins we trade day to day.
The direction of travel is what’s really worth noting. Hong Kong issued its first stablecoin issuer licences only in April this year, and HSBC received one. Anchorpoint, led by Standard Chartered, had already launched HKDAP in August. In the US, the OCC finalized its stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act this week, with the rules taking effect on January 18 next year. Regulators on both sides are turning stablecoins into legitimate payment tools. That lays the groundwork for the industry over the long term; it’s not fuel for this week’s candlestick chart.
In the short term, we still need to watch where the money is flowing. On October 22, US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $635 million in a single day. Bitcoin is now at $BTC , or $80,607, down 1.3% over 24 hours. It dipped as low as $80,451, just a step away from the $80,000 round-number mark. So I’m filing this news under medium-term narratives, not treating it as a reason to go long tonight: let’s talk about a rebound if $80,000 holds; if it doesn’t, $79.8K is the next level to watch.