Hkchain

Compliant payment Layer-1 · HKD stablecoins

Stablecoin compliance, enforced by the chain.

Hkchain is a payment Layer-1 purpose-built for licensed HKD stablecoin issuers. Real-name identity, the zero-threshold Travel Rule, sanctions screening and proof of reserve run inside the protocol, so every HKD transfer on the supported native and EVM paths clears the same rules before it settles.

Open the dashboardRead the docsBrowse the explorer
  • Chain-level enforcement
  • Native + EVM parity
  • Regulators stay read-only
A sample HKD transfer passing every compliance gate — identity, sanctions, Travel Rule and threshold — and being accepted on-chain.
AnteHandler gate1 block
Transfer 5,000 HKD·hsbc
→ hkchain1q9…k3f8
  • Identity
    Sender & recipient KYC-verified
    passed
  • Sanctions
    Screened vs. address + VASP lists
    passed
  • Travel Rule
    IVMS 101 record hashes attached
    passed
  • Threshold
    ≥ HKD 8,000 → flagged for review
    passed
Accepted · written to the audit log

The same gates reject a blacklisted or under-documented transfer — in the very next block.

Why it exists

Compliance belongs in the rail, not in each contract

Hong Kong's Stablecoins Ordinance (effective 1 Aug 2025) and the HKMA's AML/CFT guidelines require licensed issuers to enforce real-name identity, the Travel Rule, sanctions screening and proof of reserve. Hkchain moves those controls out of per-issuer smart contracts and into the protocol itself.

Contract-level compliance
  • Every issuer re-implements the same rules, differently.
  • A contract can be swapped, bypassed or re-deployed.
  • EVM-only — native and cross-tool paths escape the checks.
Chain-level enforcement
  • One rule set gates every supported HKD transfer, identically for every issuer.
  • Rules change only on-chain, through governance or the compliance authority.
  • The native SDK and EVM precompile paths clear the very same gate.

How it works

The compliant HKD payment flow

From issuance to redemption, value moves through four stages — and every transfer between them clears the same compliance gate.

  1. 1Issuer · L5

    Mint

    The licensed issuer mints HKD against a fresh reserve attestation.

  2. 2→ L4

    Distribute

    Issuer distributes to an institution; the supply enters circulation.

  3. 3L4 → L3

    Transfer

    Value moves between holders, each transfer carrying Travel Rule data.

  4. 4Burn · ack

    Redeem

    The holder burns; the issuer acknowledges with an off-chain fiat reference.

Every transfer above passes the AnteHandler gate — identity · sanctions · Travel Rule · threshold — on both the native and EVM paths.

Who it's for

One rail, every regulated party

Each participant gets exactly the capability their role allows — and nothing more.

Level 5

Licensed issuers

Mint HKD against fresh reserve attestations, distribute it into circulation and settle redemptions: the only role that can create supply.

Level 4

Institutions & VASPs

Custody and settle HKD with full IVMS 101 Travel Rule metadata between counterparties.

Level 2 · 3

Retail holders

Hold and transfer HKD with AML guardrails enforced by the chain, not by the wallet.

Read-only

HKMA supervisors

Observe circulation, reserves, KYC distribution and sanctions events — no write keys, by design.

Co-signer

Independent auditors

Co-sign proof-of-reserve attestations; the engagement is recorded on-chain.

Delegated

Agentic apps

Spend HKD under a user's capped, revocable delegation — compliance inherited from the principal.

Capabilities

What's live today

The compliance primitives HKMA supervision asks for — shipped and enforced on-chain.

All live

HKD issuance lifecycle

Two-step mint → distribute → transfer → burn, with issuer treasury and per-account freeze.

Blacklist & sanctions

Transfers to or from screened addresses and VASPs are rejected at the gate with a legible reason.

Travel Rule enforcement

Every supported HKD transfer must carry a Travel Rule payload; from HKD 8,000 it must be full tier.

Proof of reserve

Issuer and an independent auditor co-sign attestations; mint re-enables against the latest one.

Real-name KYC registry

One on-chain identity source with six levels (0–5); every module reads from it.

ERC-20 precompile parity

MetaMask sees native HKD, and the EVM path clears the very same compliance gates.

Per-transaction trace

Nodes keep a short-lived, gate-by-gate trace of each transaction they evaluate, rejected ones included; the explorer shows it.

Dashboard & explorer

Circulation, reserves and KYC distribution, plus a compliance-annotated block explorer.

Direction

Where it's going

An MVP today — a single-node localnet plus a permissioned testnet — with a clear path from shipped work to production.

Now — live
  • Compliance enforced in the AnteHandler on both native and EVM paths
  • Regulator dashboard, block explorer and testnet onboarding portal
  • Single-node localnet and a 5-validator permissioned testnet
Next — planned
  • HKMA-shaped compliance report export (JSON / CSV)
  • 402 / x402 agent-payment demo service
Later — roadmap
  • Algorand Pure Proof-of-Stake consensus
  • Mainnet deployment
  • Real-time sanctions oracle and PDF regulator reports
  • Multi-currency issuance and IBC connectivity

Explore

See the compliance rail in action

Dashboard

Supervisor, issuer, compliance, auditor and public reserve-lookup views.

Explorer

Live block feed and compliance-annotated transaction detail.

Docs

Scenario walkthroughs of every user-visible Hkchain flow.

Hkchain · a compliant HKD payment Layer-1, built for HKMA supervision.