Circle plans to bolster its presence in Southeast Asia, with Hong Kong’s stablecoin roadmap incentivizing the firm’s proposed business expansion.

Circle, the world’s second-largest stablecoin issuer USDC (USDC), intends to hire more employees in Hong Kong and establish additional business relationships in the region, according to local media reports on Nov. 4.

Circle’s operator reportedly views Hong Kong as a key market for stablecoins. This news aligns with previous coverage from crypto.news, which quoted Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire’s remarks on Hong Kong’s upcoming stablecoin strategy.

In late October, Allaire stated that USDC and other stablecoins play a vital role in Hong Kong’s trading practices. These comments followed a July consultation paper from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) concerning a stablecoin framework.

The HKMA aims to implement clear regulations and standards for stablecoins by 2025, integrating these fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies into the region’s financial system.

Local companies have already embraced stablecoins ahead of formal regulatory guidelines. First Digital Trust activated its FDUSD token on Solana last month, adding to existing support on BNB Chain and Ethereum.

Hong Kong has emerged as one of Asia’s leading crypto-friendly jurisdictions despite close ties to China, an anti-Bitcoin (BTC) nation. Some experts suggest that Hong Kong acts as an extension of China’s financial ecosystem, providing a space for crypto and other innovations.

In Circle-related updates, the USDC issuer published a whitepaper for its Confidential ERC-20 standard. The company stated that the new token design aims to preserve user privacy while enhancing regulatory compliance at the smart contract level.

Circle also relocated its global headquarters to New York, with plans to launch an initial public offering and list its shares on Wall Street.

Paolo Ardoino, the chief executive officer of Tether, said Tether has no plans of building a an official blockchain ‘at this time’ after hearing rumors of Tether Chain.

In an X post on Nov. 4, Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, denied any rumors that stated Tether (USDT) had an official blockchain in the works. He explained that Tether is currently more focused on partnering with other companies and communities instead of “trying to centralize everything.”

“I hear again few rumors about a Tether Chain. Tether is not planning to build an official blockchain at this time,” said Ardoino.

He went on to state that Tether has backed the integration of various independent layer 2 networks in order to support the gas fees needed for USDT.

Ardoino also hints at a new product launch that was supposed to be scheduled around the U.S Election day, but Tether decided to push it back seven days so that the news would not be drowned out by the “election noise.”

In a separate post, Ardoino cited the reason for Tether’s reluctance to jump into the blockchain pool. He believes establishing a Tether blockchain would enforce centralization, stating that “neutrality is very important.”

“Unstoppable TogETHER, our motto, underlines our interest to partner up with other companies and communities rather than trying to centralize everything,” added Ardoino.

In a past interview with Bloomberg in August 2024, Ardoino said that the blockchain marketplace was already very saturated. He also predicted blockchains will become more of a “commodity” in the future.

“Launching a blockchain ourselves might be not the right move. There are very good blockchains,” said Ardoino.

At the time of writing, Ethereum, TRON and Solana are the three leading blockchains based on total value locked, according to data from DeFi Llama. Ethereum is in first place with a $47.55 billion TVL and 381,444 active addresses. Meanwhile, TRON is in second place with $6.81 billion TVL and 1.71 million active addresses. In third place is Solana with $5.92 billion TVL and 4.28 million active addresses.

On Nov. 1, Tether reported its Q3 2024 earnings which consisted of many record breaking highs, including equity of $14.2 billion and total assets on a consolidated basis of $134.4 billion. Tether’s Q3 report also showed an increasing demand for USDT stablecoins, as circulation grew to nearly 30% in 2024. Tether also issued an additional $27.8 billion worth of tokens this year.