On January 12, 2022, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued a Discussion Paper regarding expanding Hong Kong’s regulatory framework for stablecoins, or what the HKMA calls “payment-related stablecoins”. These are cryptocurrency assets backed by actual fiat currencies. In the Paper, the HKMA analyzes the current regulatory framework’s adequacy at the time of its writing when taking into account the increasing and widespread use of cryptocurrency assets like stablecoins in financial markets both within Hong Kong and outside of it. The Paper’s authors assess the challenges this proliferation presents. It then goes on to offer eight questions for the financial…