OSL HK, the licensed digital asset exchange operated by OSL Group (HKEX: 863), has listed USDKG, the gold-backed stablecoin issued by the Kyrgyz Republic. The move brings a state-supervised, asset-backed digital currency into one of Asia’s most developed regulatory environments, and sits inside a broader shift in how Hong Kong is shaping its stablecoin market.
USDKG is issued by OJSC Virtual Asset Issuer, a company wholly owned by Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Finance. It is pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar and backed by physical gold reserves audited by Kreston Global. The stablecoin is deployed on Ethereum and TRON, with smart contract audits conducted by ConsenSys Diligence. Initial issuance stands at $50 million.
OSL has listed the USDKG/USDT pair on its OTC desk and Pro Trade platform, both accessible to professional investors. The exchange operates under Hong Kong’s VASP regime, which has tightened markedly since 2024 and is being complemented by a dedicated stablecoin licensing framework rolled out by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Speaking on the listing, Biibolot Mamytov, CEO of Gold Dollar (USDKG), pointed to Hong Kong’s regulatory positioning as the central reason behind the move. “Hong Kong is widely regarded as the gold standard for digital asset regulation, and working with OSL reflects our focus on transparency, gold-backed reserves, and institutional-grade infrastructure”, he said.
USDKG sits in a relatively rare category. It is not a central bank digital currency, which would typically run on a permissioned ledger and be issued directly by a monetary authority. It is also not a private stablecoin in the mold of USDT or USDC, where the issuer is a commercial entity. Instead, it combines state ownership of the issuer, gold backing, public blockchain infrastructure, and third-party audit, with a stated focus on cross-border settlement and financial inclusion.
That model has practical implications for how the token is received in regulated venues. Kreston Global audits the reserves, ConsenSys Diligence has reviewed the smart contracts, and the design is built to comply with FATF KYC and AML requirements. Those are the kind of inputs that licensed exchanges look at before adding a stablecoin to their order books, particularly under tightening Asian frameworks.
For Hong Kong, the listing fits the policy direction set out over the past two years: build a regulated home for digital assets, with stablecoins as a central piece, and open the door to non-USD and asset-backed alternatives alongside dollar-pegged incumbents. USDKG joins a small but growing list of state-linked and asset-backed instruments testing that pathway, and its appearance on a HKEX-listed exchange gives the project a regulated reference point for further expansion in Asia.
USDKG already trades on Curve and Uniswap and is supported by major self-custody wallets, including Ledger Live, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, and TronLink. The OSL listing adds a regulated central counterparty to that mix, the kind of access point institutional users typically require.
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