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HSBC launches RedCoin for PayMe payments in Hong Kong

HSBC launched its HKD stablecoin on PayMe, where more than 3.3 million users can soon pay people and merchants, with tokenised investments planned later this year.

The Aeterna Sol Editors

HSBC launches RedCoin for PayMe payments in Hong Kong

More than 3.3 million PayMe users are set to get access to HSBC’s first stablecoin, RedCoin, for payments in Hong Kong. The rollout brings a regulated, Hong Kong dollar token into a consumer payments app, with wallet activation starting in the days after launch. HSBC’s launch announcement says RedCoin became available on PayMe on 23 October.

The token’s ticker is RCHKD. HSBC says it is denominated in Hong Kong dollars and licensed and regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The bank said its issuer, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, received the HKMA licence in April 2026.

What can you pay for with RedCoin?

At launch, HSBC says RedCoin will support person-to-person transfers and payments to merchants through PayMe. The bank says users will be able to send tokens to friends and family and pay at more than 100,000 merchants.

The staged rollout means the announcement of availability does not mean every PayMe user can activate a wallet immediately. HSBC said users would be able to activate one in the app “in the coming days.” The Block’s report on the launch likewise describes wallet activation as forthcoming.

HSBC has not announced a separate payment network for these first uses. It says transfers and merchant payments will run through PayMe, while HSBC Digital Assets Custody will safeguard RedCoin.

What is HSBC planning after the PayMe rollout?

HSBC says it plans to add RedCoin wallet functionality to the HSBC HK Mobile Banking App later this year. It also plans to let customers use the token to subscribe to tokenised investment products, including a forthcoming share class of the bank’s Hong Kong dollar money market fund.

Those features are planned, not part of the initial PayMe payments rollout. HSBC has not given a specific date for when the mobile app wallet or investment products will be available.

How broad could RedCoin’s use become?

HSBC says it expects to expand RedCoin into wholesale corporate and institutional uses. Its initial retail focus is narrower: payments between PayMe users and payments at participating merchants.

Before launch, HSBC said nearly 100 staff took part in pilots that tested minting, wallet activation and live transfers. That gives the bank a tested customer flow, but the public rollout will show how customers use the token beyond those pilots.

RedCoin arrives under Hong Kong’s stablecoin licensing framework, with an HKMA-regulated bank issuing a Hong Kong dollar-denominated token through an existing consumer app. For you as a PayMe user, the first practical change is the option to make supported payments using a stablecoin wallet; wider app access and investment uses remain on HSBC’s roadmap.

Sources