Tokenised gold bar to advance Hong Kong’s ambitions as digital, metal trading hub

Hong Kong is taking significant steps towards establishing itself as a global hub for digital gold trading with the launch of an interbank tokenised gold transaction project. The city's Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui Ching-yu, announced plans to introduce a token representing a standard 400-ounce gold bar, aligning with the HAU gold price index.

This initiative builds upon the success of Project Ensemble, a pilot tokenisation and digital currency project launched by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in 2024. Analysts believe that tokenised gold is a "hot" trend, as it combines Hong Kong's goals of becoming a global digital assets hub and a global gold trading hub.

Ant Digital Technologies, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, facilitated a cross-bank tokenised gold transaction using tokenised deposits under Project Ensemble, with China Construction Bank (Asia) serving as the custodian and paying bank. Other banks, including China Citic Bank International and the Hong Kong Gold Exchange, have also completed pilot tests using tokenised deposits for gold trading settlement.

The HKMA has further advanced Project Ensemble to a new phase, where tokenised central bank money will serve as a foundation layer for 24/7 cross-border settlement, aiming to scale up tokenised gold transactions.

Brief written by urgent.news from SCMP Business's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.