Hong Kong plans to issue its first batch of stablecoin licenses within this year, The Standard reported Monday, citing Financial Services and Treasury Secretary Christopher Hui Ching-yu in an interview with local media.

With the stablecoin law set to take effect on Aug. 1, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will consult the market and publish detailed implementation guidelines within the month, the report said.

Hui expects only a "single-digit" number of licenses to be issued in the initial phase and emphasized that fiat-backed stablecoins are not intended as speculative tools, according to The Standard.

He added that stablecoins could serve real-economy use cases such as cross-border payments, particularly in regions where local currencies face higher risk or financial systems are less developed.

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