Norman Chan, founding chairman of RD Applied sciences. Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
RD Applied sciences, a Hong Kong-based fintech startup based by the previous chief govt of town’s de facto central financial institution, stated on Wednesday it has raised about $40 million from buyers amid its pursuit of a neighborhood stablecoin issuer license.
The Collection A2 spherical was led by ZA International, a part of mainland Chinese language insurer ZhongAn On-line P&C Insurance coverage that operates a Hong Kong digital financial institution, Chinese language funding corporations China Harbour Worldwide Finance and Vivid Enterprise Capital, in addition to U.S. digital asset-focused fund Hivemind Capital Companions. Different buyers who joined the spherical embrace HSG (HongShan Capital Group) and the personal fairness fund of Chinese language state-backed brokerage Guotai Junan Worldwide.
RD Applied sciences stated the recent funding will help the corporate to “drive the following part of digital foreign money transactions and asset tokenization by way of safe, enterprise-grade infrastructure.” As a part of the financing, the startup additionally agreed to accomplice with ZA Financial institution, the digital financial institution subsidiary of ZA International, to discover stablecoin functions in monetary providers resembling reserve asset custody.
RD Applied sciences was based in 2020 by Norman Chan, who served as chief govt of the Hong Kong Financial Authority (HKMA) from 2009 to 2019 and the previous Asia vice chairman of Customary Chartered Financial institution. It’s presently led by Rita Liu, the previous CEO of Alipay’s U.Ok. unit. The startup operates a cellular pockets for enterprises, which permits home and cross-border fee in addition to international alternate of a number of fiat currencies.
Its most up-to-date fundraising was in September 2024, when it raised $7.8 million in a Collection A1 spherical from buyers together with HSG, Hivemind Capital and Aptos Labs, a U.S. blockchain startup based by ex-Meta staff who labored on the social media big’s failed Diem stablecoin mission.
RD Applied sciences’ newest funding spherical comes because the startup plans to use for a stablecoin issuer license in Hong Kong. Beginning August 1, town will impose a brand new stablecoin regulation, which requires issuers of such fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies to acquire a license from the HKMA. Greater than 50 firms, together with Chinese language billionaire Jack Ma-backed Ant Worldwide and e-commerce big JD.com, have reportedly expressed curiosity in making use of for such a license. To spice up its likelihood of success, RD Applied sciences final 12 months joined the HKMA’s stablecoin regulatory sandbox scheme to check the cryptocurrency in functions resembling cross-border funds and settlements.
Hong Kong’s transfer to control stablecoins, coupled with Bitcoin hitting a document excessive of $123,000 in July, has reignited investor curiosity within the crypto sector. A number of digital asset-related shares listed in Hong Kong have surged in latest months. Amongst them are Guotai Junan Worldwide, which skyrocketed greater than 400% after the brokerage stated it obtained regulatory approval to supply crypto buying and selling providers in Hong Kong in June, and ZhongAn On-line P&C Insurance coverage, which soared practically 70% since Hong Kong introduced the passage of the stablecoin invoice in Might, as buyers sought to capitalize on its funding in RD Applied sciences.
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