2026 Hong Kong FinTech Week, the 10 companies I am most concerned about

**Author:** Joe Zhou, Foresight News

On November 2, the 11th Hong Kong FinTech Week officially opened.

I had been hesitating whether to attend, but ultimately decided to go see it in person. Because I am increasingly curious: what are the giants who truly control financial resources doing as Crypto begins to enter the traditional financial system?

If attending TOKEN2049 in Singapore was about observing the industry from a Crypto-native perspective, then Hong Kong FinTech Week is more about observing "financial innovation" from the perspective of large financial groups.

I am curious about how those financial giants, who hold a significant amount of global financial resources, understand the next round of financial innovation.

This year, Hong Kong FinTech Week is expected to gather over 1,000 speakers, 800 exhibitors, and startups. Behind this scale is a fintech ecosystem worth observing.

In my view, Hong Kong FinTech Week has several distinct characteristics: it features a large number of local Hong Kong financial institutions as well as many international large financial groups. Compared to Crypto-native industry events, this is more like a stage for the traditional financial system to showcase innovative achievements and exchange future directions.

Standard Chartered, HSBC, Ant Group, Tencent, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Visa, Swift... From global banks and asset management giants to international payment networks and financial infrastructure, these institutions will all be present at this year's Hong Kong FinTech Week.

They bring not only industry insights but also their latest explorations in AI, blockchain, tokenized assets, cross-border payments, and more.

I am particularly curious: global financial giants like BlackRock and Standard Chartered have clearly laid out their plans for Crypto; what progress have they made now? How have global financial infrastructures like Visa, Mastercard, and Swift changed the way Crypto connects with traditional payment networks over the past year, and how will they further influence payments, settlements, and capital flows in the Crypto world? And can companies that have been deeply involved in the Crypto industry for many years, like HashKey and Solana, further penetrate the core business of the traditional financial system?

On-site, we may hear more intuitively about these financial giants' business plans for the next year or two, and see which innovations they are actually pushing to fruition. How much of the future have they brought into reality?

### Futu Holdings, the Flagship of Innovation in Hong Kong Crypto

One of the companies I most wanted to engage with at Hong Kong FinTech Week is Futu Holdings.

If we consider which fintech company is most worth watching in the second half of 2026, Robinhood certainly counts as one. As the largest online brokerage in the United States, it has "fully blossomed" in various cryptocurrency businesses this year: prediction markets, the public chain Robinhood Chain, tokenized stocks, Pre-IPO, and cryptocurrency trading. Robinhood has made substantial progress in multiple business directions.

Robinhood is no longer satisfied with just being a brokerage for buying and selling U.S. stocks; it also hopes to become the largest Crypto platform in the U.S., allowing users in the U.S. and globally to trade cryptocurrencies, prediction contracts, tokenized stocks, and even memes on their platform. And it has done just that.

Futu, on the other hand, can perhaps be seen as the Robinhood of the Chinese-speaking market and even Asia.

Masayoshi Son once proposed the "Time-Space Machine Theory": technologies and business models validated first in the U.S. often enter other markets later. Hong Kong is indeed a window worth observing—through the development of Hong Kong's financial industry, we may see how U.S. financial innovations land, evolve, and move toward the next stage in new markets.

Futu is an interesting observation sample.

On one hand, it already has a large traditional securities user base. As of the end of the second quarter of 2026, the Futu platform had approximately 31.25 million registered users and about 3.84 million asset accounts. For a traditional internet brokerage, this is a substantial user and asset entry.

On the other hand, it is accelerating its entry into the cryptocurrency field. Futu's licensed virtual asset trading platform, PantherTrade, has fully commenced operations and is advancing business connectivity with Futu Securities. According to official information from October 26, 2026, PantherTrade has partnered with Huaxia Fund (Hong Kong) to launch Hong Kong's first tokenized public funds that can be traded in the secondary market 24/7 for retail investors.

How many of these users can be converted into cryptocurrency users, and how many will choose to buy RWA products? Or BTC ETF products? These are all critical numbers. Perhaps we can see potential trends for future cryptocurrency innovations in Hong Kong.

### Visa and Mastercard, the "Behind-the-Scenes Drivers" Making U Cards Ubiquitous

A CEO of a stablecoin company once told me: "In the entire U Card industry, Visa and Mastercard are undoubtedly the most profitable companies."

I found this statement quite interesting. The U Card is clearly a new business spawned by the Crypto industry, and the users are also Crypto-native users, but the companies most likely to profit immensely in the supply chain are the two traditional financial giants, Visa and Mastercard.

If you frequently use stablecoins, you may have noticed that more and more Crypto companies are starting to issue U Cards. Whether it's RedotPay, Bitget Wallet, OKX, Binance, or other Crypto wallets and trading platforms, users can use these cards to spend stablecoins like USDT and USDC for everyday purchases.

But there is a noteworthy question: these Crypto companies have not established a global merchant payment network; why can the cards they issue be used at a large number of merchants worldwide?

The answer largely points to Visa and Mastercard.

As the two largest card payment networks globally, Visa and Mastercard play a foundational role in connecting issuing institutions, acquiring institutions, and merchants. Crypto companies are responsible for providing wallets, stablecoin balances, and user services, while partner banks and issuing institutions handle card issuance and fund settlement, and Visa and Mastercard provide the global payment network, allowing these cards to enter the traditional commercial system.

In simple terms, when users swipe their cards, what happens behind the scenes is not necessarily a direct on-chain transfer. Users' stablecoin balances are typically deducted or converted into fiat currency during the payment process, and the transaction is completed through the card network, with merchants ultimately receiving local fiat currency.

And Visa and Mastercard are actively embracing this trend.

In April 2025, Visa partnered with stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge, allowing fintech companies using Bridge to connect to the Visa card network via API, enabling users to directly use stablecoin balances for purchases at Visa-accepting merchants. In March 2026, the two parties further expanded their cooperation, planning to extend the issuance of such stablecoin-linked cards to over 100 countries and regions worldwide.

Visa also disclosed that in 2025, the transaction volume of its stablecoin-linked cards reached approximately $5.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 319%. By 2026, its global stablecoin-linked card projects had exceeded 160, covering more than 50 countries.

Mastercard is also accelerating similar initiatives.

In April 2025, Mastercard announced partnerships with companies like OKX and Nuvei to explore a stablecoin payment system from Crypto wallets to merchant checkouts. In May, Mastercard partnered with MoonPay to enable businesses and fintech companies to issue Mastercard cards linked to stablecoin balances. Users can spend stablecoins, and merchants receive payments as if processing ordinary card transactions.

From MetaMask, Kraken, Bybit, to OKX and MoonPay, an increasing number of Crypto-native enterprises are establishing connections with traditional card networks.

Behind this is actually a significant industry change: stablecoin companies do not necessarily need to establish their own global payment networks; as long as they can connect to Visa and Mastercard, they have the opportunity to bring on-chain dollars into billions of consumption scenarios worldwide.

For Visa and Mastercard, this is also a new business expansion opportunity. They do not need to issue USDT or USDC themselves, nor do they have to become stablecoin issuers; they just need to continue to control key aspects like global payment networks, merchant acceptance, and transaction processing to participate in the growth of the stablecoin payment market.

Therefore, at this Hong Kong FinTech Week, I am also very eager to understand Visa and Mastercard's latest plans for stablecoin payments: how will they collaborate with Crypto wallets, stablecoin issuers, and payment companies in the future? Will stablecoins move beyond today's U Card consumption into cross-border remittances, corporate payments, and global commercial settlements?

Perhaps what truly drives stablecoins toward large-scale commercial applications are not just the companies issuing stablecoins, but also these traditional financial infrastructure giants that already possess global payment networks.

### Hong Kong's Stablecoin Landscape: Three High-Funding Companies Worth Watching

If you are paying attention to the stablecoin startup ecosystem in Hong Kong, there are three companies that I believe are worth focusing on: RedotPay, PhotonPay, and RD Technologies.

All three are Hong Kong-based fintech companies that have not yet gone public and are representative of the active financing in the stablecoin and payment infrastructure sectors in Hong Kong over the past two years. Their funding amounts have all exceeded $40 million, placing them at the forefront among Hong Kong stablecoin companies, with RD Technologies having raised approximately $90 million and RedotPay nearing $200 million in total funding.

If I could only choose a few stablecoin companies to engage with deeply at Hong Kong FinTech Week, I would definitely include these three on my list.

The three companies represent different directions in the commercialization of stablecoins.

RedotPay, headquartered in Central Hong Kong, primarily provides stablecoin payment services to consumers, including crypto payment cards, wallets, and cross-border payments. It has raised approximately $194 million in cumulative funding by 2025. Recently, there have been market rumors that it is considering secretly submitting an IPO application in the U.S. by the end of 2026, with a valuation potentially reaching $4 billion to $5 billion.

PhotonPay, with its global headquarters in Hong Kong, initially focused on enterprise cross-border payments but is now incorporating stablecoins into its global financial infrastructure. It primarily serves corporate clients, providing global payment and receipt services, multi-currency accounts, card issuance, and local clearing. On October 29, 2026, PhotonPay announced the completion of a $40 million Series C funding round, led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from SBI Group.

RD Technologies, headquartered in Hong Kong, was established in 2020 and focuses on stablecoins, corporate payments, and connecting traditional finance with Web3 financial infrastructure. In July 2025, the company completed nearly $40 million in Series A2 financing. I learned that they are also actively expanding their stablecoin business in Africa and the application ecosystem of the US dollar stablecoin RDUSD.

These three companies represent different business models emerging in Hong Kong's stablecoin industry: one targeting consumers, one deeply engaged in corporate cross-border payments, and one exploring compliant stablecoins and financial infrastructure.

For RedotPay, I want to understand in what scenarios consumers truly use stablecoin payments; for PhotonPay, I want to know why companies are willing to incorporate stablecoins into their daily payments and fund management; for RD Technologies, I am more concerned about how compliant stablecoins connect with Hong Kong's existing banking system, payment networks, and financial institutions, as well as how to find their advantageous regions and target markets in the global stablecoin market.

The answers to these questions may help us assess the potential commercial value of the stablecoin ecosystem being built in Hong Kong.

### Ant International, the Ubiquitous Fintech Giant

Ant International and its parent group Ant Group are very worthy subjects of study during this Hong Kong Fintech Week.

If RedotPay, PhotonPay, and other companies represent the exploration of a new generation of stablecoin payment startups, then what makes Ant International more noteworthy is that it already has a vast global payment network and is now attempting to extend this network into the blockchain and on-chain financial sectors.

First, Ant International already has its own Whale blockchain platform, primarily used for global fund management, cross-border payments, and inter-institutional fund settlement. It has collaborated with international financial institutions such as Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC to explore cross-border fund management and settlement based on blockchain and tokenized deposits.

Second, the Ant Group is actively laying out stablecoin and public chain infrastructure.

Both Ant International and Ant Digital have expressed intentions to apply for a stablecoin issuance license in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Ant Digital launched Jovay, an Ethereum Layer 2 aimed at institutional-level scenarios such as Real World Assets (RWA).

Additionally, there is an independent public chain worth noting, Pharos. Its core team comes from the former blockchain business team of Ant Group and has established a strategic partnership with Ant Digital, focusing on the tokenization of RWA assets and institutional-level financial infrastructure.

From blockchain platforms like Whale to stablecoins, to Jovay launched by Ant Digital, and Pharos closely cooperating with the Ant Group, Ant and its affiliated teams have covered multiple layers in the blockchain field.

Once Ant obtains the relevant licenses, it is expected to quickly penetrate related niche markets leveraging its existing global payment network and financial institution resources.

After all, Ant International's greatest advantage may not lie in whether it can launch another public chain, but in the vast merchant and user network it has already established. Its global payment network connects over 150 million merchants and 2 billion user accounts.

In recent years, I have visited and researched payment systems in about 20 countries and regions, and found that Ant International's business reach indeed extends to many places.

In markets such as Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, I have been able to use Alipay for payments in various scenarios. These personal experiences have given me a more intuitive sense of the extensive coverage of the global payment network that Ant International has established.

Finally, there is a capital market trend worth noting.

In July 2026, Ant International announced the completion of approximately $1.2 billion in Series A financing, with participation from Ant Group, Alibaba, and several international investment institutions. Previously, multiple media outlets reported that Ant International might initiate an IPO in Hong Kong within 2026. However, as of now, the listing timeline has not been officially confirmed, and media reports should not be interpreted as the company having submitted a listing application.

If the IPO ultimately proceeds, Ant International will become an important case study for observing the capitalization process of global payment and fintech companies.

### Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, OSL: Three Paths in Hong Kong's Stablecoin Market

In Hong Kong's stablecoin market, there are three companies worth focusing on: Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, and OSL.

They represent three different commercialization paths for stablecoins: Standard Chartered focuses on corporate and institutional payments, HSBC targets retail users and everyday consumption, and OSL aims to establish a payment and settlement network for global enterprises using US dollar stablecoins.

The first path is Standard Chartered's corporate stablecoin.

Strictly speaking, the issuer of the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP is not Standard Chartered Bank itself, but Anchorpoint, a joint venture established by Standard Chartered Hong Kong, HKT, and Animoca Brands. Standard Chartered is an important shareholder and provides banking infrastructure support for HKDAP.

HKDAP initially adopted an institutional-first approach, targeting corporate clients and professional investors, focusing on scenarios such as cross-border payments, corporate fund management, and tokenized fund subscriptions and settlements.

In August 2026, HKDAP began a phased rollout, with Standard Chartered Hong Kong becoming its first bank distributor. For Standard Chartered, the value of stablecoins lies not just in payments, but in leveraging 24/7 on-chain settlement capabilities to improve corporate cross-border fund flows and global treasury management.

The second path is HSBC's retail Hong Kong dollar stablecoin.

Unlike Standard Chartered's approach from the corporate side, HSBC chose to enter the retail financial market, which it is most familiar with.

In April 2026, HSBC obtained one of the first stablecoin issuance licenses in Hong Kong and began a phased rollout of the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin RedCoin through PayMe on October 23.

HSBC's advantage lies in its ready user access. PayMe already has over 3.3 million users, and HSBC Hong Kong's mobile banking also has a large customer base. In the future, users will be able to use the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin for personal transfers, merchant payments, and even subscribing to tokenized investment products through familiar banking and payment apps.

The core of this path is to bring stablecoins directly into the daily financial lives of ordinary consumers, allowing users to engage with on-chain payments without first becoming crypto users.

The third path is OSL's US dollar stablecoin and global payment network.

Unlike the previous two companies that mainly focus on Hong Kong dollar stablecoins, OSL has chosen the US dollar stablecoin USDGO.

In February 2026, OSL announced the launch of USDGO on its platform. It is a US dollar stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank in the US, with OSL serving as the brand partner and distributor, supported by a 1:1 dollar reserve, aimed at scenarios such as corporate fund management, liquidity management, and cross-border payment settlements.

This means that OSL does not just want to be a digital asset trading platform, but hopes to further become the infrastructure connecting stablecoins, traditional financial institutions, and global enterprise payment needs.

From the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP to HSBC's RedCoin, and then to the US dollar stablecoin USDGO, the three companies have chosen different entry points, corresponding to different customer groups and business models.

One starts from corporate fund flows, one from ordinary consumers, and one from the global US dollar payment and settlement network.

Which of these three paths will successfully establish a commercial model first? Can the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin truly enter everyday payments and cross-border trade? How will the US dollar stablecoin connect with Hong Kong's local financial system?

These are the questions I hope to further understand during the Hong Kong Fintech Week.

Of course, at Hong Kong Fintech Week, in addition to these 10 companies closely related to the development of the crypto industry, there are many other enterprises and innovations worth paying attention to. I hope this list serves as a starting point for discussion and look forward to engaging with more industry participants on-site to observe how traditional finance and crypto are colliding and merging.