Ant unit plans to apply for stablecoin issuer license in Hong Kong

Ant Group, an affiliate of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, plans to apply for a license to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong through its overseas arm Ant International, the subsidiary said in a statement on Thursday.

Last month, Hong Kong’s legislature passed a stablecoin bill that establishes a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong.

Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value, usually pegged to a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar, are commonly used by crypto traders to move funds…