Written by: ChandlerZ, Foresight News
Across the Pacific, a narrative about the future of stablecoins is unfolding in distinctly different forms.
On the other hand, there is the cautious layout of industry giants. Recently, the boom in mainland stablecoins has continued to rise. The governor of the People's Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, mentioned stablecoins for the first time at the 2025 Lujiazui Forum, stating that emerging technologies like blockchain and distributed ledgers are driving the robust development of central bank digital currencies and stablecoins, achieving payment and settlement, fundamentally reshaping the traditional payment system, significantly shortening the cross-border payment chain, while also posing tremendous challenges to financial regulation. In Hong Kong, the (stablecoin bill) is set to officially take effect on August 1. On the eve of licensing in Hong Kong, many banks, tech giants, and fintech companies are also rushing to seize the crypto market, frequently announcing plans to apply for stablecoin licenses:
On June 12, Ant Group's two companies, Ant International and Ant Digital Technology, announced the initiation of stablecoin license applications. Subsequently, related individuals indicated that Lianlian Digital is also actively exploring the possibility of applying for related licenses in the above 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 studying relevant regulatory details and plans to apply for a stablecoin issuance license after the stablecoin regulations in Hong Kong take effect. The company plans to launch its own stablecoin 'RHKD' and also plans to issue a digital token 'RBTC', which will be pegged to Bitcoin as the underlying asset. Customers can exchange 'RBTC' for Hong Kong dollars or U.S. dollars. The company expects this token will be supported by 100% Bitcoin reserves (achieving a 1:1 Bitcoin exchange).
On June 17, Liu Qiangdong, chairman of JD Group's board of directors, stated that JD hopes to apply for stablecoin licenses in all major currency countries globally, and then achieve currency exchanges among global enterprises through stablecoin licenses, reducing global cross-border payment costs by 90% and increasing efficiency to within 10 seconds. At the same time, JD expects to obtain licenses in early Q4 of this year and simultaneously launch JD stablecoin.
On June 18, A-share listed company Small Commodity City stated, 'The company operates the world's largest small commodity trading market and naturally has a large number of high-frequency cross-border trade settlement scenarios. Innovative payment tools such as stablecoins can provide more efficient and low-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 proactive progress in the stablecoin regulatory framework. The company's cross-border payment platform 'Yi Pay' will continue to monitor the relevant regulatory process and will actively evaluate and submit relevant applications as soon as the regulations are clear and the pathways are smooth.'
According to a report by Delphi Digital, the supply of stablecoins in the market has surpassed $250 billion for the first time. Among them, yield-generating stablecoins have grown rapidly, with Ethena reaching nearly $6 billion since its launch; Tether and Circle still dominate the market, accounting for 86% of the circulating supply; issuer diversity has increased, with over ten stablecoins having a circulating volume of over $100 million; more than $120 billion of U.S. Treasury bonds are locked in stablecoins, forming a liquidity pool outside the traditional market.
The above cases not only reflect the differences in strategic choices between the two regions but also more deeply illustrate two parallel development models on the global stablecoin track. A core question thus emerges: Will it ultimately be the legislative-driven grand narrative or the industry-driven scenario penetration that dominates this structural transformation concerning the future digital financial infrastructure?
Two paths: top-down mainstream compliance and bottom-up industry penetration
The different development paths of stablecoins in the U.S. and Hong Kong are rooted in their vastly different market environments and participants' strategic starting points. For instance, Circle and JD Coin Chain represent a top-down, enduring battle seeking mainstream compliance, and a bottom-up, industry-driven breakthrough in the B-end, respectively.
The American path represented by the former is a mainstream conspiracy aimed at gaining on-chain discourse power. As a 'Crypto Native', Circle's long-term strategic goal has always been clear: to shed the marginal label of the crypto world and enter the core of the traditional financial system. However, this process is not smooth. Circle once focused on going public in traditional financial markets but failed in 2022 due to the tremendous uncertainty of market conditions and regulation, causing its SPAC merger plan to fail. This major setback precisely confirms that in the U.S., without a clear policy framework, stablecoins are difficult to be accepted by the mainstream. The fundamental turning point lies in the clarification of the U.S. macro policy environment, especially under the push of crypto-friendly policy directions and legislative progress such as the (GENIUS Act), which provided Circle with the right timing and advantages, paving the way for its eventual landing in the capital market.
In stark contrast, the Hong Kong path represented by the latter is a new type of breakthrough based on the B-end. JD Coin Chain Technology (Hong Kong) was registered in Hong Kong in March 2024. In July, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority published the list of participants in the stablecoin issuer 'sandbox', which includes JD Coin Chain. According to its official website, JD will issue a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Hong Kong dollar. JD's stablecoin is a stablecoin based on a public chain and pegged 1:1 to the Hong Kong dollar (HKD), which will be issued on a public blockchain, its reserves composed of highly liquid and credible assets, securely stored in independent accounts of licensed financial institutions, and strictly verified for the integrity of reserves through regular disclosures and audit reports. JD is not a newcomer in the payment field, but in the previous round of the mobile payment war around the C-end, it failed to establish an independent payment ecosystem comparable to that of Alibaba and Tencent. Therefore, JD's entry into stablecoins is not a pursuit of an old battlefield but a natural extension based on JD Group's advantages in technology and supply chain. It chooses to avoid the already red ocean of C-end retail payments and directly cut into the B-end cross-border trade and supply chain finance areas where it has structural advantages. The logical starting point of this path is not to seek comprehensive liberalization of top-level legislation but to utilize the specific institutional space provided by Hong Kong as an international financial center and regulatory sandbox to solve specific business problems.
Two approaches: New battlefield in B-end vs. On-chain currency track
Different starting points determine 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 is primarily testing the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, and will later conduct tests on other fiat stablecoins. Based on market demand, it is expected that the two stablecoins will be issued simultaneously. Unlike the first stage, which mainly tested product functions and technical details, the second stage focuses on testing the use of stablecoins in three practical scenarios: cross-border payments, investment trading, and retail payments.
In cross-border payment scenarios, JD Coin Chain plans to expand its user base through both direct and indirect customer acquisition (e.g., collaborating with compliant wholesalers). In the investment trading scenario, it is currently negotiating cooperation with global compliant exchanges to launch JD stablecoin in various regions. The first retail application will be JD's global sales platform for Hong Kong and Macau, where users can be the first to use stablecoins for shopping in JD's self-operated e-commerce scenarios.
JD's strategy can be seen as a surgical strategy, with the core focus on deeply cultivating the B-end, where scenarios are king. Liu Peng explicitly pointed out that the target users of JD's stablecoin are not crypto investors but a large number of real enterprises and cross-border trade participants. Its core value proposition is not speculation, but solving long-standing pain points in traditional cross-border payments through blockchain technology—high costs, low efficiency, and opaque processes. By customizing payment solutions for JD's global sales, international logistics, and other inherent ecosystems.
In contrast, Circle's strategy is to seize the high ground of protocols, with standards being paramount. Its ultimate goal, as noted by Bernstein analysts, is to evolve into the currency track of the internet. This means that Circle is not seeking to solve the problems of a specific scenario but rather to become a universal, underlying digital cash protocol. By establishing its legal status through legislation, Circle hopes that USDC can be seamlessly integrated by all banks, payment companies, fintech platforms, and commercial applications. This is a typical horizontal platform-driven logic, aiming to maximize network effects by establishing foundational standards, thereby occupying an indispensable core position in the global digital financial system.
The two approaches also point to two different business endgames.
JD's future vision primarily aims to build a highly closed-loop on-chain trade empire. By connecting stablecoin payments with its international logistics, overseas warehousing, and order systems, it theoretically achieves an unprecedented, efficient, and transparent global supply chain financial ecosystem. However, its more strategically valuable vision points to offshore RMB stablecoins. Leveraging Hong Kong's institutional advantages as the world's largest offshore RMB hub, once policy permission is obtained, issuing CNH stablecoins will not only bring tremendous commercial imagination to JD but also provide it with the opportunity to play a key role in the financial infrastructure of RMB internationalization.
Circle's endgame is closely linked to consolidating the dollar's hegemonic position in the global digital economy. Its goal is to become the de facto private sector version of the digital dollar, becoming a core component of the new generation of financial infrastructure. However, it is noteworthy that, amid rampant market enthusiasm, Cathie Wood's Ark Invest has begun to choose to cash out as CRCL stock prices hit new highs. According to trading disclosures, ARK sold a total of 642,766 shares of Circle stock through its three core funds within two days, for 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 reductions, while the reductions by Circle's internal executive team are part of the routine plan as per the prospectus after the IPO.
This does not completely deny the long-term value of Circle, 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 favorable policies in the short term, necessitating tactical reductions to manage risk exposure. After the legislation passes, the real commercial landing and market competition challenges may just be beginning.
Different paths leading to the 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 constructing a grand financial vision, with the advantage of gaining leading legislative support and strong capital endorsement.
Of course, there are still many issues to be resolved: Can JD's B-end barrier, built around the industry, effectively resist Circle's top-down dimensional attack from general protocols? And does Circle's grand narrative, when truly delving into the real economy, also need to tackle specific industry application scenarios one by one like JD?
