Hong Kong is taking the lead in encouraging more tokenization as the city embraces innovation and new technologies to bolster its status as an international financial center, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Monday.
In a speech at the Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026, Chan said that the city has issued multiple rounds of tokenized green and infrastructure bonds amounting to over $2 billion.
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“These transactions have helped demonstrate how tokenization can improve settlement efficiency and broaden market participation,” Chan said, adding that these issuances are now regularized.
He said financial institutions around the world are increasingly using digital assets and tokenization to enhance efficiency, cut costs, and devise innovative products for clients.
“More types of assets – from money and bonds to real assets and future income – are being represented in tokens that can move easily and come in smaller, more accessible units. This is creating new ways to invest, fund projects, and share risks across a wider community of participants,” Chan said.
He said that Hong Kong is determined to drive more innovative use cases in tokenization, noting that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in November started EnsembleTX, the pilot phase of Project Ensemble which aims to develop a comprehensive tokenization ecosystem in the city.
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“This pilot allows market participants to use tokenized deposits in money market fund transactions, and to manage liquidity and treasury positions in real time,” Chan said.
He also noted that Hong Kong approved two issuer licenses earlier this month for stablecoins, adding that these cryptocurrencies have significant potential to address “long-standing pain points in economic activity, especially in cross-border trade and payments.”
“At the same time, we must firmly protect users, the wider public and the stability of the financial system. That is why we have adopted a prudent, step-by-step approach, with a strong compliance culture and capability as a prerequisite for any stablecoin issuer,” Chan said.
