Circle, a stablecoin issuer, has been actively expanding its presence in Asia recently. Its co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said that he was encouraged by Hong Kong’s new cryptocurrency policy. However, Jeremy Allaire was reserved about the Chinese government’s views and did not dare to say that China is open.

The stablecoin issuer Circle has been seriously injured since the Silicon Valley Bank explosion in mid-March, and its market value has continued to decline. Its current market share is about 20%. On the other hand, the stablecoin USDT has bucked the trend and has grown, with its market share exceeding 65%. . As the number of cryptocurrency-friendly banks in the United States decreases, it can be seen that Circle is actively looking for the next safe haven, and Asia has become a possible option for Circle to enter.

Circle founder: inspired by Hong Kong

Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said in an interview with the South China Morning Post last Friday that Circle is excited and looking forward to Hong Kong’s policy on regulating stablecoins because Asia is its largest non-U.S. market.

On the other hand, although Hong Kong’s regulatory framework for stablecoins has not yet come out, Hong Kong’s Deputy Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Chan Ho-Lin, said in June that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has conducted public consultations on the launch of stablecoins and will gradually establish a regulatory framework in the future. The goal is to launch it by the end of next year. Jeremy Allaire said:

We're excited that the Hong Kong government sees this as a priority, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority does seem to see this as a real priority. This is very positive and a strong motivation for us to hopefully grow our business here.

According to Allaire, Circle's business operations in Asia now account for the majority of its non-U.S. market share and it already has 125 employees in Asia.

I dare not say that China is open...

Although Jeremy Allaire agrees with Hong Kong’s new policy of embracing cryptocurrency, he also said that he has no illusions that “China will open up the cryptocurrency market.”

I think the Chinese government is supportive of this, but it's not the same as opening up cryptocurrency trading in China. I don't think the two are related.

He pointed out that if the Chinese government ultimately wants the yuan to be used more freely in global trade and commerce, stablecoins may be better suited to achieve this goal than central bank digital currencies (CBDC). At the same time, he pointed out that CBDC and private stablecoins are not opposites, but complementary. Privately issued stablecoins still have a role in innovation.

It would be great if central banks upgraded their systems from traditional technology to more modern distributed ledger technology. There's very useful stuff in it, but I still think it's very different from the private sector's work in innovating on the Internet.

It is worth mentioning that he mentioned that CNBHC Group (currently renamed Trust Reserve), the issuer of offshore RMB CNBHC and Hong Kong dollar stable currency HKDC, may be moving towards this path, but according to previous reports from Dongzhong, the team has already In mid-May, he was taken back by the Chinese police for investigation and detained, and China did not explain the reason.