Beijing Business Today: The People's Bank of China has defined stablecoin for the first time, and industry analysis suggests it will not affect Hong Kong's stablecoin-related layout.

On November 30, Beijing Business Daily published an article titled “Speculative trading is on the rise, the People's Bank of China strikes again against virtual money, and for the first time defines stablecoins.” The article points out that the People's Bank of China recently held a meeting of the working coordination mechanism to combat the trading and speculation of virtual money, where financial regulatory authorities defined stablecoins for the first time, clarifying that stablecoins are a form of virtual money. Currently, they cannot effectively meet the requirements for customer identification, AML, and other aspects, posing a risk of being used for Money Laundering, fundraising fraud, illegal cross-border fund transfers, and other illicit activities. It re-emphasizes the need to persistently combat illegal financial activities related to virtual money. However, industry insiders believe that this meeting will not affect the relevant layout of stablecoins in Hong Kong, but speculation on stablecoins in the mainland will be severely cracked down upon. Moreover, the subsequent layout of stablecoins by relevant entities within the country in Hong Kong will greatly shrink their imaginative space, becoming more limited to actual application scenarios such as cross-border payments and Supply Chain finance.