The China-US Path of Stablecoins: The B-end Breakthrough in Hong Kong and the Mainstream Conspiracy in the United States

The Song of Ice and Fire on both sides of the Pacific

Written by: ChandlerZ, Foresight News

On both sides of the Pacific, a narrative about the future of stablecoins is unfolding in strikingly different forms.

On the other hand, there is the prudent layout of industrial giants. Recently, the boom of stablecoins in the mainland has also continued to rise, and Governor Pan Gongsheng of People's Bank of China attended the 2025 Lujiazui Forum to mention stablecoins for the first time, saying that emerging technologies such as blockchain and distributed ledger have promoted the vigorous development of central bank digital currencies and stablecoins, realizing payment and settlement, reshaping the traditional payment system from the bottom, greatly shortening the cross-border payment chain, and posing huge challenges to financial supervision. In Hong Kong, China, the "Stablecoin Act" has been confirmed to officially take effect on August 1, and on the eve of Hong Kong's licensing, many banking institutions, technology giants, and fintech companies are also accelerating their efforts to seize the crypto market, and have repeatedly voiced their plans to apply for stablecoin licenses:

• On June 12, Ant Group's two subsidiaries, Ant International and Ant Digital Technology, announced the initiation of a stablecoin license application. Subsequently, relevant individuals indicated that Lianlian Digital is also actively exploring the possibility of applying for related licenses in the aforementioned regions. Currently, Lianlian Digital has established a dedicated team responsible for advancing stablecoin-related projects and conducting use case research.
• On June 16, Yuta Logistics Technology announced that it is actively researching relevant regulatory details and plans to apply for a stablecoin issuance license after the stablecoin regulations in Hong Kong come into effect. The company plans to launch its own stablecoin "RHKD" and also intends to issue a digital token "RBTC" that is pegged to Bitcoin as the underlying asset. Customers can exchange "RBTC" using Hong Kong dollars or US dollars. The company expects that the token will be supported by 100% Bitcoin reserves (achieving a 1:1 Bitcoin exchange).
• On June 17, Liu Qiangdong, Chairman of the Board of JD Group, stated that JD hopes to apply for stablecoin licenses in all major currency countries globally, and then achieve foreign exchange between global enterprises through stablecoin licenses, reducing global cross-border payment costs by 90% and improving efficiency to within 10 seconds. At the same time, JD expects to obtain the license at the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year and launch the JD stablecoin.
• On June 18, the A-share listed company Small Commodity City stated, "The company operates the world's largest small commodity trading market, inherently possessing a massive and high-frequency cross-border trade settlement scenario. Innovative payment tools such as stablecoins have the potential to provide more efficient and lower-cost cross-border payment solutions for global merchants, especially small and micro enterprises, aligning with our mission to serve real trade. We welcome and support Hong Kong's positive progress in the regulatory framework for stablecoins. The company's cross-border payment platform 'Yiwu Pay' will continue to pay attention to the relevant regulatory process and will actively assess and submit relevant applications as soon as regulations are clear and pathways are unobstructed."

According to a report by Delphi Digital, the supply of stablecoins in the market has exceeded $250 billion for the first time. Among them, yield-bearing stablecoins have grown rapidly, with Ethena reaching nearly $6 billion since its launch; Tether and Circle continue to dominate the market, accounting for a combined 86% of the circulating supply; the diversity of issuers has increased, with more than 10 stablecoins having a circulation of over $100 million; over $120 billion in U.S. Treasuries is locked in stablecoins, forming a liquidity pool outside of traditional markets.

The above case not only reflects the differences in strategic choices between the two regions but also deeply reveals two parallel development models in the global stablecoin arena. A core question thus emerges: will it be the legislative-driven grand narrative or the industry-driven scenario penetration that will ultimately dominate this structural transformation concerning the future digital financial infrastructure?

Two Paths: Top-Down Mainstream Compliance and Bottom-Up Industry Penetration

The different development paths exhibited by stablecoins in the United States and Hong Kong are rooted in their distinct market environments and the strategic starting points of the participants. Taking Circle and JD Coin Chain as examples, the former represents a top-down, mainstream compliance-oriented long-term battle, while the latter represents a bottom-up, industry-driven breakthrough path for B-end.

The American path represented by the former is a mainstream conspiracy aimed at gaining the right to speak on the chain. As a Crypto Native, Circle's long-term strategic goal has always been clear, which is to break away from the fringe label of the crypto world and enter the heart of the traditional financial system. But the process has not been easy. Circle had been contemplating listing on the traditional financial market, but in 2022, the SPAC merger plan collapsed due to significant market conditions and regulatory uncertainties. This major setback just confirms that in the United States, without a clear policy framework, stablecoins are difficult to be accepted by the mainstream. The fundamental turning point was the clarity of the U.S. macro policy environment, especially driven by crypto-friendly policy guidance and regulatory developments such as the GENIUS Act, which allowed Circle to gain the right position to pave the way for its eventual landing on the capital markets.

In stark contrast to this, the Hong Kong path represented by the latter, that is, a new type of breakthrough based on the B-side. JD Coin Technology (Hong Kong) was incorporated in Hong Kong in March 2024. In July, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced a list of stablecoin issuers' "sandbox" participants, including JD Chain. According to its official website, JD.com will issue a cryptocurrency stablecoin in Hong Kong that is pegged 1:1 to the Hong Kong dollar. JD Stablecoin is a public chain-based stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD), which will be issued on the public blockchain, and its reserves are made up of highly liquid and credible assets that are securely held in segregated accounts of licensed financial institutions, and the integrity of the reserves is rigorously verified through regular disclosures and audit reports. JD.com is not a newcomer in the payment field, but in the last round of mobile payment wars around the C-end, it failed to establish an independent payment ecosystem comparable to Alibaba and Tencent. Therefore, JD.com's entry into the stablecoin is not a catch-up with the old battlefield, but a natural extension based on JD.com's advantages in the field of technology and supply chain. It chooses to avoid the C-end retail payment, which has become a red ocean, and directly cuts into the area where it has structural advantages: B-end cross-border trade and supply chain finance. The logical starting point of this path is not to seek full liberalization of top-level legislation, but to use the specific institutional space provided by Hong Kong as an international financial centre and regulatory sandbox to solve specific business problems.

Two Approaches: B-side New Battlefield VS On-chain Currency Track

Different starting points lead to two completely different market strategies.

In a recent interview, Liu Peng, CEO of JD Coin Chain Technology, stated that as of early June 2025, the company has mainly conducted tests on the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, with plans to test other fiat stablecoins later. Based on market demand, it is expected that both types of stablecoins will be issued simultaneously. Unlike the first phase, which focused on testing product functions and technical details, the second phase emphasizes testing the use of stablecoins in three practical scenarios: cross-border payments, investment transactions, and retail payments.

In the cross-border payment scenario, the JD Coin blockchain plans to expand its user base through both direct and indirect customer acquisition methods (such as collaboration with compliant wholesalers). In the investment trading scenario, discussions are currently underway with global compliant exchanges to launch JD stablecoins in different regions. In retail, the first to be implemented will be the JD Global Sale platform for Hong Kong and Macau, where users will be able to use stablecoins for shopping in JD's self-operated e-commerce scenario.

JD.com’s strategy can be viewed as a scalpel tactic, with a focus on deeply cultivating the B-end and prioritizing scenarios. Liu Peng clearly stated that the target users of JD’s stablecoin are not crypto investors, but a large number of实体企业 and cross-border trade participants. Its core value proposition is not speculation, but rather addressing long-standing pain points in traditional cross-border payments, namely high costs, low efficiency, and lack of transparency, through blockchain technology. This is achieved by customizing payment solutions tailored to JD’s global sales and international logistics ecosystems.

In contrast, Circle's strategy is to preempt the protocol high ground and make standards king. Its ultimate goal, as Bernstein analysts have noted, is to evolve into a monetary orbit of the Internet. This means that Circle is not looking to solve a problem in a specific scenario, but to become a general-purpose, low-level digital cash protocol. By legislating to establish its legal status, Circle hopes that USDC will be seamlessly integrated by all banks, payment companies, fintech platforms, and business applications. This is a typical horizontal platform-based, protocol-driven logic that aims to occupy an indispensable core position in the global digital financial system by establishing foundational standards to maximize network effects.

Two strategies point to two different business outcomes.

The future picture of JD.com is, first of all, to build a highly closed-loop on-chain trading empire. By connecting stablecoin payment with its international logistics, overseas warehousing, order system and other data flows, an unprecedented, efficient and transparent global supply chain financial ecology can theoretically be realized. But its more strategically valuable prospect points to the offshore renminbi stablecoin. Leveraging Hong Kong's institutional advantages as the world's largest offshore RMB hub, the issuance of CNH stablecoins will not only bring huge business imagination to JD.com, but also give it the opportunity to play a key role as a financial infrastructure in the internationalization of RMB.

The endgame of Circle is closely tied to consolidating the dollar's hegemonic position in the global digital economy. Its goal is to become a de facto private sector version of the digital dollar, serving as a core component of the new generation of financial infrastructure. However, it is worth noting that amidst the market frenzy, Cathie Wood's Ark Invest has started to choose to cash out as CRCL's stock price hits new highs. According to trade disclosures, ARK sold a total of 642,766 shares of Circle stock through its three core funds within two days, with a total value of approximately $96.5 million, accounting for 14% of its initial position. Currently, another major institutional shareholder, BlackRock, has not reported any reduction, while the sell-off by Circle's internal executive team is part of a routine plan following the IPO as per the prospectus.

This does not completely deny Circle's long-term value, but it at least suggests that, in the eyes of the most optimistic investors, the stock price may have fully or even excessively reflected the positive policy in the short term, necessitating tactical reductions to manage risk exposure. After the legislation is passed, the real commercial implementation and challenges of market competition may just be beginning.

Different Paths, Same Destination? A Currency War Defining the Future

Overall, JD and Circle represent two paradigms of stablecoin development. JD's model is pragmatic, starting from solving specific business problems, with the advantage of having a solid business foundation and clear application scenarios. Circle's model, on the other hand, is idealistic, starting from building a grand financial vision, with the advantage of having leading legislative support and strong capital endorsement.

Of course, there are still many issues to be resolved: Can the B-end barriers built around the industrial core in the JD model effectively resist the top-down dimensionality reduction attacks from universal protocols like Circle? And when Circle's grand narrative truly delves into the real economy, must it also, like JD, conquer specific industry application scenarios one by one?