HSBC launches Hong Kong USD stablecoin that moves only inside its own apps

Welcome to the Monday edition of the 51 Insights digital asset newsletter.

Stablecoins were built to get money out of banks. On Friday, HSBC launched one that never leaves.

Here's what matters this week:

• HSBC launches RedCoin, its own Hong Kong dollar stablecoin.

• Canada bans stablecoin yield, even when exchanges pay it.

• Hong Kong lets tokenized money funds trade around the clock.

New on the podcast

Jeff Booth: Money Is Theft and the Debt Can't Be Repaid. The author of The Price of Tomorrow on why $365 trillion of global debt can never be repaid, and why AI makes it worse: “the faster productivity gains happen, the faster that debt can't be repaid.”

THE BIG STORY / DIGITAL CASH

The stablecoin that never leaves the bank

What's going on here?

HSBC launched RedCoin, its first stablecoin, on Friday. Over 3.3 million users of PayMe, its payments app, can switch on a wallet in the coming days and pay friends or 100,000+ merchants. Later this year, RedCoin can buy a new share class of HSBC's own Hong Kong dollar money market fund. HSBC's daily disclosure shows about HK$81 million in circulation, roughly $10 million.