HSBC Launches RedCoin as Circle Expands Stablecoin Tools and Ripple Targets Cross-Border Settlement

HSBC's Hong Kong stablecoin reaches PayMe, Circle changes how institutions handle USDC and EURC, and payment firms test new settlement routes.

Stablecoin news this week spans a consumer payment launch, two tools for businesses managing digital currency, and two cross-border initiatives. HSBC has put its Hong Kong dollar-backed RedCoin into PayMe, with merchant payments due to become available as users activate wallets. Circle has opened an hourly USDC mint-and-redemption auction for eligible institutions and added EURC to its cross-chain Gateway service.

The other developments are earlier-stage. Arf and Ripple announced a plan to supply settlement liquidity on the XRP Ledger using RLUSD. Monetary authorities in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand will work with industry on ways to accept and settle regulated digital money across borders. These are distinct from a live payment network. For readers comparing stablecoin services, the difference between an available product and an announced framework matters more than the number of networks named in a release.

HSBC Launches RedCoin in PayMe for Hong Kong Transfers and Merchant Payments

HSBC launched RedCoin, its Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoin, in PayMe on October 23. The bank says more than 3.3 million PayMe users will be able to activate a stablecoin wallet in the coming days and use RedCoin for transfers to other users and payments at more than 100,000 merchants. Those figures describe PayMe's existing user and merchant reach, not the number of RedCoin transactions already completed.

The HSBC announcement identifies the token as RCHKD and says HSBC holds a stablecoin issuer licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Nearly 100 staff members tested the customer journey before launch, including minting, wallet activation and transfers. HSBC plans to add the wallet to its main Hong Kong banking app later this year; that expansion is not live yet.

Putting a regulated stablecoin inside an established payments app gives merchants that accept crypto a familiar customer flow: users can pay from PayMe, while merchants keep their existing point of sale. Actual adoption will depend on wallet activation and whether customers choose RedCoin over their usual PayMe balance.

Circle Opens Hourly USDC Mint and Redemption Auctions for Eligible Institutions

Circle made Circle Match available to eligible Circle Mint customers on October 22. The tool pairs institutions seeking to mint and redeem USDC in hourly, prefunded auctions. When orders match, the redeemer pays one clearing fee and the minter receives a rebate. Circle says the fee cannot exceed its Express redemption rate, but a match or rebate is not guaranteed.

In the Circle product announcement, minters set the minimum rebate they will accept and redeemers set their maximum fee. Orders must be funded before entering an auction. Any unmatched amount can follow the customer's chosen fallback, roll or cancellation instruction. Access is approval-gated and may vary by jurisdiction.

This is an institutional liquidity change, not a new consumer checkout. Treasury teams and crypto finance providers that regularly convert dollars into USDC can potentially reduce the cost of matching opposing flows. Whether they benefit depends on eligible access, auction depth and the clearing fee in each hour.

Circle Adds EURC and cirBTC to Gateway's Cross-Chain Balances

Circle added EURC and cirBTC support to Circle Gateway on October 23. Businesses and developers can now maintain one unified balance for each supported asset instead of pre-funding separate balances on every supported chain. EURC is available through Gateway on Arc, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Solana and World Chain; cirBTC is supported on Arc and Ethereum. USDC was already supported.

Circle's Gateway update says each asset keeps its own balance. A euro-denominated EURC balance is not combined with a dollar-denominated USDC balance or with cirBTC. After a deposit finalizes, the balance can be accessed across its supported chains. Circle also describes high-frequency payments in EURC and cirBTC, including pay-per-use services and agent transactions.

For a crypto payment gateway serving multiple chains, the practical gain is less idle inventory assigned to each destination network. The supported asset-chain pairs still limit where a payment can settle, so Gateway does not make every asset available on every blockchain.

Arf and Ripple Plan RLUSD Settlement Liquidity for Cross-Border Payment Firms

Arf and Ripple announced on October 22 that they will bring RLUSD-funded settlement liquidity to licensed cross-border payment companies on the XRP Ledger. Arf says its first phase will provide direct RLUSD liquidity to bridge the period between sending a payment and receiving final settlement. The companies have not presented this partnership as a generally available service across every payment corridor.

According to Arf's announcement, its short-duration settlement financing is typically repaid within one to five days. Arf reports roughly $10 billion in annual settlement volume for its existing business, but that is not a measure of volume already processed through this new RLUSD arrangement. The firms also plan to use the ledger's proposed native lending infrastructure once it becomes available; that step remains subject to the network's amendment process.

For payment providers using blockchain services, the intended benefit is access to working capital where a payment needs to settle without keeping as much money idle in each market. Availability, pricing and supported corridors remain to be demonstrated.

Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand Expand BLOOM to Study Stablecoin Settlement

The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced on October 23 that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand had joined its BLOOM initiative as policymaker members. The three authorities will work with financial institutions and payment companies on how different forms of digital money, including regulated stablecoins, could be accepted, exchanged and settled across borders. This is a coordination programme, not the launch of a shared consumer payment rail.

The MAS release names acceptance and settlement, interoperability, and programmable controls as its three work areas. Airwallex, Mastercard, Ripple, Visa and several banks are among the newly added participants. No specific stablecoin corridor or rollout date was announced.

For businesses accepting cryptocurrency, the significance is upstream: common rules for identity checks, transaction controls and settlement could make cross-border stablecoin services easier for payment providers to offer. Until participants publish operational routes, the initiative remains a framework under development.