From HSK to USDGO: Hong Kong's two major licensed institutions begin to "decouple".

Written by: River

When you talk about Hong Kong's virtual asset market, who comes to mind first?

It is highly likely to be OSL and HashKey. As the earliest licensed exchanges in Hong Kong, they have long been regarded as the two most representative giants in Hong Kong's crypto finance landscape.

However, their public profiles differ significantly. OSL has always maintained a low profile, and even though its subsidiary OSL HK was the first listed licensed exchange, the company rarely appears in the spotlight. HashKey, on the other hand, is always in the spotlight, frequently appearing at various industry events and engaging in community discussions surrounding its ecosystem token HSK, often dominating the market.

Interestingly, the two institutions recently announced their listings on cryptocurrency exchanges only one day apart:

• On February 25th, HashKey Exchange listed its ecosystem token, HSK.
• On February 26, OSL HK listed the enterprise-grade compliant stablecoin USDGO;

At first glance, this is just a routine listing activity, but when viewed in a larger strategic context, it seems to be a divergence between two paths: one continues to cultivate the Web3 native trading ecosystem, while the other begins to bet on stablecoin financial infrastructure.

This also reflects the profound changes taking place in Hong Kong's crypto asset industry, and is an excellent glimpse into the evolution of Hong Kong's crypto financial landscape.

I. The "Temperature Difference" in Token Listing: Ecosystem Tokens vs. Financial Instruments

Let's start with HashKey, which is the newly launched HSK.

As is well known, HSK is the ecosystem token of HashKey Group. In the official narrative, it is used in all HashKey business scenarios, undertaking multiple functions such as ecosystem incentives, community governance, and gas fee payment on the self-developed public chain HashKey Chain.

In other words, HSK is a typical "platform coin".

This is a well-established strategy in the crypto industry. From this perspective, HashKey's strategic path is quite clear: within the framework of Hong Kong compliance, it aims to build a closed-loop Web3 ecosystem around trading and traffic by connecting exchange transactions, on-chain ecosystem, and community incentives through HSK, attempting to replicate the most classic growth path of crypto.

Exchange (traffic entry point) → Self-developed public chain (underlying infrastructure) → HSK (value capture) → Web3 ecosystem (closed loop).

The core of this logic lies in the fact that platform tokens bind users, users amplify network effects, network effects activate the ecosystem, and the prosperity of the ecosystem in turn boosts the overall valuation, ultimately building an ecosystem network centered on crypto asset trading. Therefore, its target audience is also very clear— more towards retail traders, Web3 native players, and those who are willing to bet on the future of the HashKey ecosystem.

Source: HashKey Official Website

However, the problem is that as a listed company ( 3887.HK ), HashKey not only owns the platform token HSK, but also publicly issued shares. This means that it must face a special reality of "two separate entities": 3887.HK represents shareholder interests and financial returns, while HSK carries the responsibility of ecosystem growth and community incentives. How to draw the boundaries between these two sets of logics and achieve long-term synergy is a question that similar models need to answer.

In fact, HashKey has long deliberately separated the listed entity from the ecosystem token in its structure. For example, the prospectus clearly states that the rise and fall of the HSK token price is legally and structurally separate from the listed company's stock price. However, this does not mean that the tension has disappeared: the capital market and the Web3 ecosystem are naturally different in terms of pace, goals and evaluation system, and still need a clearer narrative and boundaries to explain.

From a market perspective, since its launch, HSK has fallen from a historical high of $2.5 to a low of $0.15. This trend may reflect the market's wait-and-see attitude towards this "two-tiered" model.

Then let's talk about USDGO, which OSL launched this time.

One often overlooked detail is that OSL has not yet chosen to issue its own platform token. Instead, it launched its own new stablecoin, USDGO, at the beginning of this year . From a strategic perspective, USDGO can almost be regarded as OSL Group's "almost-favored son."

USDGO is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, a US federally regulated crypto bank. It undergoes rigorous third-party audits and is branded and distributed by OSL, a globally licensed company. This compliance backing and product form clearly distinguish it from traditional "crypto assets" and objectively make it closer to an on-chain digital financial tool.

OSL's public positioning of USDGO is also very clear - "enterprise-grade compliant stablecoin". Its main target audience is not ordinary crypto speculators, but corporate and institutional clients with cross-border payment and fund settlement needs.

In terms of trading methods, USDGO has launched RFQ instant exchange and spot professional trading on the OSL Global platform, gradually opening up the deposit, withdrawal and circulation path of stablecoins, and also providing trading liquidity through OSL HK's OTC service.

Source: USDGO Official Website

An even more interesting signal is that, at the same time as USDGO's launch, OSL also launched the stablecoin ecosystem alliance "GO Alliance" and announced an initial investment of $20 million in ecosystem incentives. However, this funding is not a traditional airdrop to retail investors, but rather targeted at corporate and institutional partners.

Its logic is closer to the typical B2B SaaS customer acquisition model, which attracts the first batch of industry users by reducing early adoption costs, thereby gradually establishing real business application scenarios. This is obviously different from the platform coin incentive logic represented by HSK.

Ultimately, the two newly launched tokens, HSK and USDGO, present a very stark contrast: one is a platform coin, and the other is a stablecoin; one serves the growth logic of its own Web3 ecosystem, while the other attempts to become a financial tool for cross-border capital flows for enterprises.

Two of Hong Kong’s most representative licensed entities, and the two listed companies behind them, OSL Group (863.HK) and HashKey Holdings (3887.HK), are betting on two very different futures.

II. The Moment of Divergence Between Two Paths and Two Types of Bets

Two listings may not be enough to draw conclusions, but if we look back at the period since 2025, we will find that this divergence did not happen suddenly.

HashKey remains committed to Web3, betting on the prosperity of its native ecosystem and accelerating the completion of its closed loop of "global exchange matrix + self-developed public chain + platform coin system".

Before its listing on HashKey Exchange, HSK had already been listed on multiple platforms such as HashKey Global, HTX, KuCoin, and Gate.io. In January 2026, it further listed on Kraken, opening up USD and EUR trading pairs and continuously expanding the token's circulation.

Meanwhile, HashKey Chain continues its development, and its overall strategy, from exchanges to public chains, from platform tokens to ecosystem incentives, remains focused on compliance within a compliant framework. It continues a Web3 native growth logic: building an ecosystem, constructing a network, and using platform tokens to create incentives and capture value, with the goal of establishing itself as a compliant crypto traffic portal from Hong Kong to the world.

Conversely, the OSL Group has undergone a significant strategic restructuring over the past year, transforming from a digital asset trading institution into a stablecoin payment and settlement infrastructure platform.

• In April 2025, stablecoin payment services were officially launched;
• In July 2025, it completed a $300 million financing round to fund the expansion of its payment business;
• In July 2025, BizPay, an enterprise-grade encrypted payment solution, was launched.
• In August 2025, the company disclosed its interim results, showing that its payment business contributed nearly 30% of its revenue within two months of its launch.
• In November 2025, it was disclosed that it had obtained more than 50 licenses in more than 10 key markets around the world;
• In January 2026, the acquisition of Banxa, a global Web3 payment service provider, was completed.
• In January 2026, a new round of equity financing of US$200 million was completed;
• In February 2026, USDGO, an enterprise-grade stablecoin, was launched.

Against this backdrop, the launch of USDGO is particularly crucial. It is not just a stablecoin, but also a core tool in the OSL Group's entire payment network, dedicated to solving real-world cash flow problems with stablecoins, following the "TradiFi + Digital Finance" approach.

When a company uses USDGO for cross-border settlement, the process is roughly as follows: fiat currency inflow → on-chain stablecoin settlement → account management and fund collection → treasury optimization → fiat currency outflow. With the addition of OSL's own BizPay corporate payment and collection functions, as well as its licensed network covering multiple markets globally, the entire process can be completed without relying on the traditional SWIFT system, and is fully compliant, regulated, and auditable.

Thus, what we see is an interesting picture: a Web3 ecosystem matrix that is continuously building "exchanges + public chains + platform tokens", and a global financial infrastructure that is accelerating its transformation into "stablecoins + payment networks + compliance licenses".

There is no inherent superiority or inferiority between these two paths; they simply represent different betting directions and reveal the different understandings of their respective roles by the two institutions.

• HashKey is building a Web3 native ecosystem network that revolves around transactions, public chains, and platform tokens. Its core logic is "traffic × ecosystem": with an ecosystem comes traffic, with traffic comes valuation, and with valuation comes support for the ecosystem. It attempts to replicate the most classic growth myth in the cryptocurrency world within the framework of Hong Kong's compliance.
• OSL's attempt is to use stablecoins as a financial infrastructure tool, embedding them into the payment and settlement system that serves the real economy. The core is "license × network": with a compliant license comes institutional trust, with a payment network comes real demand, and with real demand comes continuous income. It is trying to find a real place for "compliant digital assets".

III. Where will Hong Kong's crypto finance experiment go?

Taking a broader perspective, the divergence between HashKey and OSL can also be seen as a microcosm of a larger experiment underway in the Hong Kong cryptocurrency market.

Hong Kong regulators have never had a simple "either/or" approach.

Since the release of the Virtual Asset Policy Declaration in 2022, Hong Kong has been actively promoting the development of the Web3 industry while also attempting to gradually embed crypto assets into the traditional financial system through a compliant regulatory framework. Therefore, the emergence of two different paths in the same market is not contradictory; rather, it may become a kind of "compliance race" structural advantage for Hong Kong's crypto asset ecosystem.

On one hand, there is native Web3 innovation, and on the other hand, there is crypto-financial infrastructure. The two are not necessarily in competition, but rather different levels of market division of labor.

As stablecoin regulations are gradually implemented, the significance of this experiment is being amplified, and to some extent, stablecoins are becoming a key variable determining the success or failure of this experiment.

It's important to understand that Hong Kong's stablecoin regulatory framework has been refined over many years, from the start of regulatory consultation in 2022 and the introduction of regulatory sandbox testing in 2024, to the high-vote passage of the Stablecoin Bill in May 2025 and its formal implementation in August of the same year. Now, it has finally taken basic shape. With the licensing system about to be implemented, the stablecoin market will officially enter the compliance stage.

From a broader industry perspective, stablecoins are becoming core assets in the on-chain financial system. The reason is not complicated: they retain the technological advantages of blockchain, such as global circulation, real-time settlement, and programmability, while also possessing the stability attributes of traditional finance—fiat currency pricing, auditability, and regulatory compliance. They can even embed more financial rules within the compliance framework.

This is why more and more traditional financial institutions are starting to pay serious attention to stablecoins. At least for large, medium and small enterprises around the world, the real value of stablecoins lies not in speculation, but in more efficient cross-border payments and fund management.

Perhaps it is against this backdrop that OSL places USDGO in such a central position.

Ultimately, understanding OSL's strategy hinges on understanding what USDGO truly is. It's not a traditional stablecoin geared towards the trading market, but rather more like an on-chain account system and funding pipeline connecting TradeFi and Web3.

Businesses can still use fiat currency for pricing, issue USD invoices, and produce standard audit reports. The only difference is that the "cross-border flow of funds" has been changed from SWIFT to a more efficient and convenient on-chain settlement network. In this process, businesses do not need to understand Web3 culture or hold any volatile assets to enjoy a faster, cheaper, and still compliant payment channel.

Source: OSL

Overall, whether it's HashKey's dedication to the Web3 ecosystem or OSL's bet on a stablecoin financial network, both paths are essentially trying to answer the ultimate question: Where is the second half of the compliant crypto asset industry? And what can compliant crypto assets truly be used for?

Looking back at the first decade of the crypto industry, the core narrative has always revolved around "trading." However, with the development of stablecoins, RWA, and on-chain finance, more and more institutions have begun to realize that the real opportunity may not lie in new exchanges or new tokens, but in building the crypto financial infrastructure itself.

Therefore, when HashKey and OSL take two different paths, they actually represent two futures that the entire industry is exploring.

In conclusion

More than three years have passed since the Hong Kong Virtual Asset Policy Declaration was issued. In these three years, market cycles have changed, the regulatory system has become increasingly sophisticated, and the original two licensed institutions now stand at different crossroads.

Ultimately, who goes further in their journey comes down to two fundamental questions: What real-world pain points have they truly addressed? And where is the network effect?

The answer will take time, but at least one thing is clear:

These two most representative licensed institutions in Hong Kong are no longer following the same path.