China-based e-commerce giant JD.com has reportedly registered entities tied to a potential stablecoin rollout just days ahead of Hong Kong’s stablecoin regulations going into effect.
JD.com, often referred to as China’s Amazon, has registered two potential stablecoin-linked entities, Jcoin and Joycoin, through its fintech subsidiary, JD Coinlink Technology, according to a report by Hong Kong news outlet Ming Pao on Tuesday.
JD Coinlink is one of the official participants in the stablecoin issuer sandbox program by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which launched last year.
According to the JD Coinlink website, the upcoming “Jingdong stablecoin” is 1:1 pegged to the Hong Kong dollar and issued on a public blockchain with a mission to become one of the leading digital currencies for businesses and individuals.
HKMA’s stablecoin regime starts Friday
The report on JD.com’s purported stablecoin entity registrations comes a year after JD.com’s JD Coinlink started exploring stablecoins as part of the HKMA’s stablecoin sandbox launched in March 2024.
Apart from JD Coinlink, the sandbox also involved RD InnoTech and Standard Chartered Bank’s Hong Kong division alongside Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Telecommunications.
JD Coinlink disclosed its plans for a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin soon after HKMA published the sandbox announcement last July.
Hong Kong yet to disclose licensed issuers
After completing the preparation phase, the HKMA is expected to implement its regulatory regime for stablecoin issuers this Friday.
The Hong Kong central bank has yet to announce the licensed stablecoin issuers, though, as its register of licensed stablecoin issuers currently lists none.
“With the coming of the HK stablecoin regime in August, everybody in China and HK is talking about stablecoins,” Red Date Technology CEO He Yifan told Cointelegraph in mid-July.
“This will be very interesting and involve some new innovations and regulations for the crypto industry,” He noted, adding:
“For example, we are pushing for a process for KYCing [Know Your Customer-ing] public chain-based stablecoin wallets with anonymous private key signatures from government-issued DIDs [decentralized identifiers].”
With the HKMA yet to disclose the names of issuers set to launch Hong Kong dollar stablecoins, JD’s reported registration of a stablecoin entity could be timely, just ahead of the anticipated product launch this Friday.
Ahead of the official launch, the JD Coinlink website warns users to beware of fraud, emphasizing that the stablecoin has not yet been issued.
