MAROKO133 Breaking crypto: Hong Kong to Link New Digital Bond Platform With Regional Crypt

📌 MAROKO133 Breaking crypto: Hong Kong to Link New Digital Bond Platform With Regi

Hong Kong is integrating its debt market into the blockchain and crypto era, announcing a new digital asset platform in the second half of the year that will support the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan confirmed Wednesday during his 2026/2027 budget speech that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) CMU OmniClear Holdings will build the infrastructure, with explicit plans to link it with regional tokenization hubs.

The move shifts Hong Kong from pilot programs to permanent market architecture, consolidating liquidity across Asian markets.

By connecting with external platforms, the initiative aims to prevent the “digital island” effect that has plagued early tokenization efforts.

Why Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Is Shifting From Pilots to Core Infrastructure

The platform represents the HKMA’s transition from experimental “Project Ensemble” sandboxes (which helped asset manager titan Franklin Templeton issue tokenized assets) to a live production environment.

Following the successful issuance of green bonds totaling $10 billion in late 2025 throughout the secondary market, the regulator is now addressing the post-trade friction.

This isn’t just about government debt. The infrastructure is built to scale beyond sovereign issuance. Just as retail platforms like Bitpanda expand access to tokenized metals and commodities, Hong Kong’s new hub aims to capture the institutional side of RWA issuance.

By placing settlement within the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU), Hong Kong provides the legal certainty institutions require.

The system will support settlement for various digital assets, moving beyond the $1.28 billion third batch of tokenized bonds issued last quarter.

Crucially, the government has committed to continuing regular tokenized issuances to prime the liquidity pump.

Institutional Demand and Cross-Border Liquidity

This infrastructure play aligns with surging institutional demand for on-chain yields and settlement efficiency.

Standard Chartered analysts recently highlighted how stablecoins are driving a trillion-dollar demand for tokenized U.S. Treasury bills. By linking regional hubs, Hong Kong attempts to capture similar flows for Asian debt markets.

The efficiency gains are measurable, but the revenue potential for infrastructure providers is the larger story. Bloomberg Intelligence projects that institutional stablecoin revenue could scale significantly as these settlement layers mature.

Secretary Chan noted in his speech that fiat-referenced stablecoin licenses, key to the settlement leg of these trades, will begin rolling out in March, confirming earlier reports by HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue, which said the same thing.

These licenses will initially be limited, focusing on issuers with robust asset backing and anti-money laundering controls.

Yue confirmed that reviews are prioritizing use cases that demonstrate real commercial utility rather than speculative trading and expects only a “very small number” of licenses to be given in March.

Discover: Next Crypto to Explode in 2026

Hong Kong and Crypto are Facing an Interoperability Challenge

The technological hurdle remains interoperability. While the HKMA plans to link with “regional platforms,” distinct regulatory standards in Singapore and Japan create friction.

However, without unified standards, liquidity remains trapped in domestic silos, reducing the utility of tokenized assets.

Market observers are also watching the implementation of the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, which Hong Kong is advancing alongside the platform build. These tax transparency measures are a prerequisite for institutional capital that requires full compliance.

If the CMU OmniClear platform successfully integrates with mainland China’s sett…

Konten dipersingkat otomatis.

🔗 Sumber: cryptonews.com

📌 MAROKO133 Eksklusif crypto: IMF: US Inflation Won’t Hit Fed Target Until 2027, D

The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that US inflation will not return to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target until early 2027.

The assessment, part of the IMF’s first Article IV review of the Trump administration, signals that meaningful rate relief remains distant despite the president’s optimism.

IMF Flags Fiscal Risks

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters the US current account deficit is “too big.” The Fund estimates it at 3.5% to 4% of GDP in the near term.

But the IMF’s prescription clashes with the administration’s approach. Nigel Chalk, the Fund’s Western Hemisphere Director, said fiscal consolidation — not tariffs — is the best path to narrowing the deficit. The recommendation comes after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s broad emergency tariffs as illegal, forcing the administration to invoke Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 for replacement levies.

The fiscal picture is stark. The IMF projects US federal deficits will remain between 7% and 8% of GDP in the coming years. That is more than double the levels targeted by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Consolidated government debt is on track to reach 140% of GDP by 2031.

“The upward path for the public debt-GDP ratio and increasing levels of short-term debt-GDP represent a growing stability risk to the US and global economy,” the Fund warned.

Trump’s Rate Optimism vs. Structural Reality

The IMF review landed one day after Trump’s State of the Union address, where the president painted a rosy picture on borrowing costs. He claimed mortgage rates had hit four-year lows and that annual mortgage costs had dropped nearly $5,000 since he took office. He framed lower rates as the solution to what he called the “Biden-created housing problem.”

Yet the IMF’s numbers tell a different story. With inflation not reaching the Fed’s target until 2027 and fiscal deficits running at twice the administration’s own goals, the structural case for higher-for-longer rates is strengthening. The Fund pegged 2026 US growth at a resilient 2.4%, leaving the Fed little urgency to ease.

What It Means for Crypto

The implications for risk assets are clear. Sticky inflation and an expanding fiscal deficit reduce the probability of aggressive rate cuts this year. For crypto markets, which rallied on rate-cut expectations through late 2025, the IMF’s assessment reinforces caution.

The deeper irony is that the administration’s own fiscal expansion — including what the IMF notes are historically large tax cuts — is the primary driver of the deficit that keeps rates elevated. Trump wants lower rates but is pursuing policies that structurally prevent them.

The IMF stopped short of predicting a crisis, noting that “the risk of sovereign stress in the US is low.” But the trajectory it describes — rising debt, persistent deficits, delayed disinflation — points to an environment where rate relief comes slowly, if at all.

The post IMF: US Inflation Won’t Hit Fed Target Until 2027, Delaying Rate Cuts appeared first on BeInCrypto.

🔗 Sumber: www.beincrypto.com