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Weekly briefing · Edition 16 · 17 August 2026 · covering 11 to 17 August

Standard Chartered-led Anchorpoint launches Hong Kong dollar stablecoin

Edited by Cliffton Lee · Singapore · 11 items covered from 415 sources reviewed

Key points
  • Standard Chartered-led Anchorpoint Financial opened beta access to its HKDAP Hong Kong dollar stablecoin on 12 August 2026, with HashKey Exchange completing the first mint-and-redeem transaction four months after Anchorpoint secured one of Hong Kong's first two stablecoin issuer licences.
  • Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is preparing a proof-of-concept for intraday Japanese government bond repo settlement on the Canton network, aiming to compress settlement from 1 to 3 days toward the real-time model JPMorgan's Kinexys network has run for US Treasury repo since 2020.
  • The SEC cancelled its 14 August meeting to propose Reg Crypto and again delayed the tokenised-securities innovation exemption after the White House and SIFMA, the Wall Street trade group, raised concerns about Regulation NMS execution obligations and the proposal's legal footing.
  • Nasdaq agreed to acquire LeveL Markets, the third-largest US alternative trading system with 2,500 institutional clients, folding it into a new Digital Liquidity Networks division ahead of the DTCC's tokenised-Treasury settlement service going live in October 2026.
  • The SEC issued Franklin Templeton a no-action letter permitting other Franklin Templeton funds to sweep cash into its $726 million BENJI tokenised money-market fund, with a condition requiring smart-contract admin keys to transfer to any successor transfer agent.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) moved on a parallel Asia front, preparing a proof-of-concept for intraday Japanese government bond (JGB) repo settlement on the Canton network, while in Washington the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cancelled a scheduled Reg Crypto rulemaking meeting and pushed its tokenised-securities innovation exemption further out amid White House and Wall Street resistance.

What's new in Asia

  1. Standard Chartered-led Anchorpoint launches Hong Kong dollar stablecoin ↗
    Hong Kong

    Anchorpoint Financial, the venture between Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands and HKT, opened beta access to HKDAP on 12 August 2026, four months after securing one of Hong Kong's first two stablecoin issuer licences under the regime that took effect 1 August 2025. HashKey Exchange and OSL Group joined as authorised distributors and HashKey completed the first mint-and-redeem transaction, with Anchorpoint targeting a retail rollout by late 2026 while HSBC, the other initial licensee, prepares its own stablecoin for the second half of 2026 with a possible PayMe distribution channel reaching 3.3 million users.

  2. MUFG to test real-time blockchain settlement for Japanese government bond trades ↗
    Japan

    MUFG is preparing a proof-of-concept for intraday settlement of JGB repo trades on the Canton network, aiming to compress settlement from the current 1 to 3 days toward the real-time, 24/7 model JPMorgan's Kinexys network has run for US Treasury repo since 2020. The PoC sits alongside MUFG's stablecoin push with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC) and Mizuho Financial Group toward a jointly issued yen stablecoin targeted for listing by March 2027.

  3. Marketnode tokenizes BNY funds on Stellar ↗
    Singapore

    Marketnode, the Temasek- and Singapore Exchange (SGX)-founded market infrastructure operator whose Fundnode platform processed almost 1.5 million transactions in 2025, said on 14 August 2026 it plans to tokenise BNY Investments funds on Stellar for institutional and accredited investors, extending a distribution roster that already includes WisdomTree and CGS International funds. The move adds a fourth major asset manager to Stellar's institutional fund base alongside Franklin Templeton's BENJI, ahead of Stellar becoming the third blockchain the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) supports for tokenised stocks next year.

Global news

Payments & settlement
  1. Bank of England to test stablecoin, digital currency use in cross-border finance ↗
    United Kingdom

    The Bank of England (BOE) moved its Digital Pound Lab into Phase 2 on 12 August 2026, working with NOBO Finance, Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon Labs to test stablecoins alongside a potential digital pound in a single trade-finance payment flow, including invoice factoring where an exporter receives a stablecoin advance and a UK importer settles in digital pounds.

Issuance & funds
  1. SEC greenlights Franklin Templeton funds to park cash in tokenized BENJI fund ↗
    United States

    The SEC issued Franklin Templeton a no-action letter on 12 August 2026 permitting other Franklin Templeton funds to sweep excess cash into its $726 million BENJI tokenised money-market fund, with the transfer agent custodying assets via private keys and a condition that smart-contract admin keys must transfer to any successor transfer agent.

  2. Tether says it completed long-promised 'Big Four' audit of finances behind $180 billion USDT stablecoin ↗
    Global

    Tether said KPMG US completed its first full financial audit, issuing an unqualified opinion on 2025 financial statements that showed reserves exceeding liabilities by $6.814 billion as of 31 December 2025, going beyond the quarterly attestations Tether has published since its settlement with the New York Attorney General.

  3. Brazil's largest lender Itaú is stepping deeper into the tokenization ↗
    Brazil

    Itaú Unibanco, Latin America's largest bank by assets at more than $562 billion as of the report, started working with digital-asset infrastructure provider OpenAssets on a tokenisation pilot run by Brazilian regulator ANBIMA to test issuance, trading and settlement of fixed-income securities and investment funds on distributed-ledger rails.

Regulatory & licensing
  1. U.S. SEC to again delay 'innovation exemption' for tokenization amid Wall Street, White House concerns ↗
    United States

    The SEC cancelled its 14 August meeting to propose Reg Crypto and further delayed its tokenised-securities innovation exemption after the White House flagged risk to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act negotiations and SIFMA, the Wall Street trade group representing major broker-dealers, argued that changes to Regulation NMS best-execution obligations belong in formal rulemaking rather than an exemption.

  2. Franklin Templeton, JP Morgan AM want tokenized fund KYC on par with stablecoins ↗
    United States

    Franklin Templeton, Janus Henderson, JPMorgan Asset Management and WisdomTree formed the Coalition for Tokenized Markets and petitioned the US Treasury and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in a July letter to apply the GENIUS Act's onboarding-only know-your-customer (KYC) standard for stablecoins to tokenised funds as well, rather than requiring per-transaction checks.

Infrastructure & custody
  1. Nasdaq to acquire LeveL Markets ATS in 24/7 tokenization push ↗
    United States

    Nasdaq agreed to acquire LeveL Markets, the third-largest US alternative trading system (ATS) with 2,500 institutional clients and average daily volume up 56% year over year in 2025, folding it into a new Digital Liquidity Networks division led by Roland Chai that consolidates Nasdaq's tokenisation and digital-asset technology work ahead of the DTCC's tokenised-Treasury settlement service going live in October 2026.

  2. Coinbase picks Abu Dhabi for its global tokenized asset push ↗
    United Arab Emirates

    Coinbase secured a Financial Services Permission from the Abu Dhabi Global Market's Financial Services Regulatory Authority on 11 August 2026 to arrange investment deals and custody tokenised securities, positioning Abu Dhabi as its international hub for issuing and registering share-backed digital securities alongside its existing Dubai derivatives business.

Worth watching next

  • Whether the Nasdaq-LeveL Markets deal closes before the DTCC's October 2026 tokenised-Treasury settlement launch, and whether that timing shapes which venues get first access.
  • Whether HSBC's second-half 2026 Hong Kong dollar stablecoin launches with PayMe distribution before or after Anchorpoint's own retail rollout.
  • Whether Treasury and FinCEN respond to the Coalition for Tokenized Markets' KYC-parity request before the SEC's innovation exemption resurfaces, since the two questions are substantively linked.
  • Whether MUFG's JGB repo proof-of-concept produces a public timeline, given the bank's SMBC and Mizuho stablecoin listing target of March 2027 sits on a similar horizon.

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Editorially independent. Not investment advice.