FT: Ant, JD ordered to halt Hong Kong stablecoin pilot plans now!
Ant Group, which is backed by the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and JD. com, have been instructed to halt any plans to join a Hong Kong stablecoin pilot that are already under way, “the Financial Times” reported citing several people familiar with the matter.
The firms were dissuaded from the plan by People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and the Cyberspace Administration of China, which are concerned about private companies creating currency like assets, the FT said.
The developments signaled a tightening of regulatory oversight over private stablecoin projects in the region and China’s resolve to assert control over digital finance in an era when much activity has moved online. It could take the edge off knee jerk excitement about Hong Kong’s recently announced stablecoin licensing regime while bolstering investability in regulated, central-bank-aligned visions like the e-CNY and tokenized payment systems endorsed by large financial institutions.
