HSBC starts RedCoin rollout to 3.3 million PayMe users

HSBC began rolling out RedCoin, its first Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, to PayMe users on 23 October, opening the service to a potential audience of more than 3.3 million people. The bank says the coin can be used to send money and pay merchants through the app.

• More than 3.3 million PayMe users are in the rollout’s reach.
• PayMe supports payments at more than 100,000 merchants.
• RedCoin’s ticker is RCHKD; its Hong Kong Monetary Authority licence number is FRS02.

HSBC said in its launch announcement that users would be able to activate a stablecoin wallet in PayMe over the following days. RedCoin is a digital token designed to track the value of a traditional currency. HSBC says each coin is backed by segregated liquid assets and is redeemable one-for-one for Hong Kong dollars.

What can PayMe users do with RedCoin?

At launch, customers can use RedCoin for person-to-person transfers and payments to merchants through PayMe. The wallet is activated inside the app, and the bank says users can send coins to friends and family or pay at participating businesses.

The South China Morning Post reported that PayMe users do not need to meet a minimum balance or open an additional account to activate a wallet. They can select it after updating the app, with transfers using an interface similar to the existing PayMe experience, according to PayMe head Lawrence Li.

That puts RedCoin inside a payment service many Hong Kong users already have, rather than asking them to start with a separate crypto wallet. HSBC has not said in its launch announcement that RedCoin can be moved to outside wallets or used on other crypto platforms.

How is RedCoin backed and regulated?

HSBC says RedCoin is licensed and regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority under the city’s stablecoin rules. The bank’s licence was granted in April 2026. Its website says the token is issued on HSBC’s own distributed ledger network, a shared digital record system, using smart contracts to create and move coins.

The bank says reserve assets are held separately and must match the value of coins in circulation. It also says RedCoin is not a bank deposit and is not covered by Hong Kong’s Deposit Protection Scheme. Those details matter if you are comparing a stablecoin with money held in a regular bank account.

What does HSBC plan to add next?

HSBC plans to add RedCoin wallets to its Hong Kong mobile banking app later this year. The bank also says it expects customers to be able to use the coin to subscribe to tokenised investment products, including a planned share class of its Hong Kong dollar money market fund. Tokenised products represent investments in digital form.

The announcement describes those additions as future plans, while the current rollout centres on PayMe payments. HSBC also says it intends to expand RedCoin to wholesale corporate and institutional uses, but has not provided a timetable for that step.

The launch extends HSBC’s digital asset services into everyday payments. For now, the practical offer is a regulated HKD-linked coin in PayMe, with investment and broader banking uses still to come.

Sources and documents

• launch announcement — about.hsbc.com.hk