Industry players said the delay may be caused by a slower-than-expected review process, adding that it could also be due to the regulators’ cautious stance towards launching the first batch of regulated stablecoin licences as the city seeks to cement its status as a digital-asset hub.

“I don’t think [the delay] is caused by the market,” said Jack Poon, a member of the task force on promoting Hong Kong Web3 development and a professor of fintech at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “Likely, it is more administrative to ensure all the items are checked or perhaps, the narrative of how the new issuer will position itself for the future.”

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Tuesday that it was actively taking forward the licensing matter and would announce further details in due course.

The market has been eagerly awaiting who would win the licences and how the stablecoins would be put to use, after two senior officials said at Consensus Hong Kong, the city’s flagship digital asset conference on February 11, that the government was targeting issuing licences in March.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that stablecoin licences would be issued “within the next month”, while Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the government planned to issue only a “small number” of stablecoin issuer licences in the first batch in March.