Caixin: Hong Kong plans to optimize the capital regulation of encryption assets to help banks accept compliant stablecoins.

On September 11, according to Caixin reports, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued a consultation draft of the new module CRP-1 "Classification of Crypto Assets" in the "Banking Supervisory Policy Manual" (SPM) to the local banking industry on September 8, aiming to further clarify regulatory guidance on the new capital requirements for banks related to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's crypto asset regulatory standards, which will be implemented in early 2026. The new regulations categorize crypto assets into two groups, each further divided into two subgroups (Group 1a, Group 1b, Group 2a, Group 2b). According to the revised Hong Kong "Banking (Capital) Rules", Group 1a consists of tokenized traditional assets, Group 1b consists of stablecoins with effective stabilization mechanisms; Group 2 assets include all crypto assets without reserve backing, such as Bitcoin and Ether, as well as any tokenized traditional assets and stablecoins that do not meet classification criteria. These are further subdivided into 2a (limited recognition of hedging) and 2b (unrecognized hedging) through a set of recognized hedging criteria.