The more than 160-year-old banking institution has become the first bank-authorised distributor of HKDAP, a regulated stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar and backed by reserve assets. Its use is intended to enable continuous on-chain transaction settlement and reduce the timing mismatch between tokenised assets and traditional payment systems.

The U.S. Senate is facing a decisive procedural vote on the CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633), which is intended to deliver the most comprehensive reform of digital asset regulation in the United States to date. The bill successfully passed the House of Representatives in July 2025 and also secured support in a Senate committee in May 2026. However, the path toward its final approval remains complicated. Securing the required 60 votes in a divided Senate is being hindered by ethical disputes surrounding crypto-related income linked to the presidential office, concerns within the banking sector over stablecoins, and an exceptionally tight legislative calendar.