Finloop QFPay and Anchorpoint run HKDAP payments

Finloop Finance Limited, Anchorpoint Financial Limited and QFPay Haojin Fintech Limited have completed a Hong Kong payment transaction using HKDAP, a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin issued under the city’s new regulatory framework. The transaction places a regulated digital currency inside an existing merchant payment and settlement process rather than treating it as a separate cryptocurrency-only payment channel.

The three companies said the arrangement allows Finloop Finance and QFPay HK to test HKDAP payments while merchants continue receiving settlement through their established Hong Kong dollar workflows. That design could lower the operational barrier for retailers considering regulated digital assets: merchants would not need to rebuild their point-of-sale systems or alter the way they account for HKD receipts.

Anchorpoint Financial Limited is one of the first stablecoin issuers licensed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority under the Stablecoins Ordinance, according to the companies. The firm said it received its stablecoin issuer licence in April 2026 under licence number FRS01.

Merchant acceptance without changing HKD settlement

Finloop Finance and QFPay HK developed the payment solution to enable merchants to accept HKDAP and other compliant digital assets through QFPay’s payment infrastructure. QFPay operates merchant-acquiring and payment technology services in Hong Kong, where its platform integrates credit cards, QR-code wallets and other payment methods.

The model separates the consumer-facing payment asset from the merchant’s settlement preference. A customer can pay with HKDAP, while the merchant remains connected to a familiar HKD-based settlement flow. That distinction addresses a practical issue that has limited many cryptocurrency payment products: retailers often have little appetite for managing wallet balances, token-price exposure, on-chain reconciliation or conversion processes outside their established payment providers.

HKDAP’s intended role also differs from a volatile cryptoasset used for speculative trading. A Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin is designed to track the value of HKD, though its usefulness in payments will depend on issuance controls, redemption arrangements, merchant acceptance and the reliability of the payment systems that handle it.

The companies did not describe the transaction’s value, the merchant involved, or whether the payment was settled entirely on-chain or combined blockchain transfer with off-chain payment processing. They characterized it as part of planned testing of HKDAP in local payment activity.

Anchorpoint’s regulated issuance framework

Anchorpoint is a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited and was formed as a joint venture involving Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT and Animoca Brands in February 2025. The consortium brings together a bank, a telecommunications and payments group, and a digital-asset company, giving the issuer access to financial, commercial and technology networks as it seeks to establish use cases for HKDAP.

Hong Kong’s stablecoin rules place licensed issuance at the centre of the market structure. A regulated issuer is expected to operate within requirements intended to govern the stablecoin’s backing, redemption and management. That framework gives distributors and payment providers a route to offer a local-currency digital settlement asset without relying solely on offshore dollar-linked tokens, which have historically dominated stablecoin activity.

Finloop Finance said it is participating through its Beta Access role as an authorised HKDAP distributor. The company can provide subscription, redemption, exchange, trading and settlement services for the token. Those services are essential to a payments arrangement because users and businesses need defined ways to obtain HKDAP, convert it back into Hong Kong dollars and move value between payment participants.

Finloop Finance Technology Holding Limited describes itself as a Hong Kong-based, AI-driven wealth technology platform serving financial institutions. Its offerings cover cash management, funds, alternative assets, structured products, bonds, insurance and virtual assets. The company said its Finloop Finance Limited unit is licensed by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission.

QFPay supplies the merchant link

QFPay Haojin Fintech Limited, founded in 2015, provides payment technology and merchant-acquiring infrastructure in Hong Kong. The company says it supports more than 15 payment methods, including card payments and QR-code wallets, and offers point-of-sale integrations for retail, food and beverage businesses, and e-commerce operators.

Its participation gives the stablecoin project a direct route into merchant checkout systems. Stablecoin issuers can create and distribute tokens, but recurring retail use requires acceptance infrastructure, transaction routing, reconciliation tools and settlement processes that merchants can operate without adding significant complexity at the counter.

The collaboration therefore focuses less on persuading merchants to hold digital assets than on embedding a regulated token within payment systems they already use. Finloop handles the digital-asset distribution and conversion side, Anchorpoint supplies the regulated HKDAP instrument, and QFPay connects the product to merchant acceptance technology.

The parties said they will assess further applications for HKDAP across local payment and settlement workflows. Potential tests could involve additional merchant categories, business-to-business settlement or other payment scenarios, though the companies have not announced specific expansions.

An early test of local stablecoin utility

The completed transaction does not by itself establish retail-scale stablecoin use in Hong Kong. One payment offers limited evidence about consumer demand, merchant economics, processing speed, fees or the operational performance of the arrangement under heavy transaction volumes.

It does provide an early example of how Hong Kong’s licensed stablecoin regime could be applied to a day-to-day payment flow. The project places a regulated HKD-linked token alongside existing payment acceptance rather than asking merchants to choose between conventional settlement and digital assets.

For Hong Kong, where policymakers have sought to develop a supervised digital-asset market, the next test will be whether licensed issuers and payment providers can turn such demonstrations into services that merchants find efficient enough to use repeatedly. The Finloop, Anchorpoint and QFPay collaboration gives HKDAP a distribution-and-acceptance pathway, but sustained usage will depend on the practical economics and reliability of that network.