Hong Kong's first batch of "Stablecoin Issuer License" list will be announced next week. The three main applicants are HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and virtual asset platform OSL. This licensing round may favor banks due to their capital strength and regulatory advantages, while OSL possesses rich practical experience. Although rumors suggest the main list is finalized, the actual situation may still change.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is expected to issue the first batch of stablecoin licenses by the end of this month, with HSBC and Standard Chartered being the most likely institutions to receive approval. The licenses may be issued on March 24. The number of licenses issued will be limited and will prioritize institutions that already have authorization to issue banknotes. This move signifies an important step for Hong Kong in its journey toward becoming a global digital asset center.

Hong Kong is about to issue its first batch of stablecoin licenses, with approved institutions including HSBC, joint venture Anchorpoint, and OSL Group. Regulators aim to ensure market stability through strict regulations, while Chinese companies such as Ant Group and JD.com are absent from this round of license competition due to policy constraints. This move will impact the global stablecoin regulatory landscape.

Author: Coinfound By March 2026, the global digital financial market will be at a critical crossroads of regulatory restructuring and industry revaluation. Hong Kong is about to issue the first batch of licenses for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers. This is not just a routine licensing approval but a landmark event signaling that Hong Kong's digital financial infrastructure is entering a practical phase. On the surface, this is regulatory implementation; but on a deeper level, it signifies that Hong Kong is trying to answer a more strategically important question: in the context of accelerating US-China digital financial competition and tightening global compliance frameworks, how can Hong Kong build a trustworthy system through the stablecoin regime that supports cross-border payments, enterprise-level treasury management, and RWA tokenization settlement? CoinFound believes that understanding the significance of the “night before the license” should not only focus on who will receive the first batch of licenses but also on what Hong Kong ultimately aims to reshape with this system.

Circle's newly launched Circle Nanopayments on the testnet are designed to support ultra-low amount USDC transactions, solving the dual dilemma of traditional payment systems and on-chain Gas fees. The system utilizes off-chain aggregation and batch on-chain settlement technology to enable developers to make micro-payments without Gas fees. The first real-world case is an autonomous robot dog completing a charging transaction through this system, demonstrating the practicality of the agent economy.

Gwangju District Prosecutors Office in South Korea recently sold 320.8 Bitcoin seized, cashing out 31.6 billion Korean Won. This batch of Bitcoin originally came from investigations into illegal gambling platforms from 2018 to 2021. Although there was an incident where Bitcoin was stolen by hackers due to a public official's mistake, the hackers later returned the Bitcoin. Authorities have conducted investigations and also discovered other cases of seized Bitcoin going missing.

Ripple developers are introducing artificial intelligence–based security tools into the XRP Ledger (XRPL) development workflow following the discovery of a software bug related to batch transaction processing.

Ripple engineers have discovered a security vulnerability in the XRP Ledger's batch transaction processing mechanism, prompting the team to intervene to prevent impact. To enhance security, Ripple will integrate AI tools into the development process, covering code review and simulated attack testing, strengthening defenses to reduce future risks. Additionally, the current technical support and resistance levels for XRP are around $1.50; a breakout above this level could point to higher targets.

The proposed batch revision (XLS-56) for the XRP Ledger has been found to have a serious logical flaw that could lead to unauthorized ledger modifications. However, since it has never been activated on the mainnet, holder funds remain secure. Developers have marked this revision as unsupported and provided a comprehensive fix. XRP technical analysis shows a rebound from the $1.35 support level, with the next resistance at $1.61.

The XRP Ledger Foundation confirmed on February 26, 2026, that a critical vulnerability in the signature-validation logic of the proposed Batch amendment was identified and patched before activation, averting a potential exploit that could have allowed attackers to execute unauthorized transactions and drain funds without access to victim private keys.