Hi fintech friends,

Welcome back to This Week in Fintech - China! As the summer heats up, so does the pace of developments in China’s fintech scene. Let's dive in now.

The Coin Related

Despite CEO's initial skepticism, Airwallex is building a dedicated stablecoin platform team. The new infrastructure will enable customers to buy, hold, send, and settle tokens globally, supporting instant payments and seamless fiat-to-stablecoin conversion. Airwallex is embedding stablecoins into its core FX and liquidity operations, aiming to make tokenized currency as frictionless as fiat across its global network.

• Ant International is seeking stablecoin licenses in multiple countries and regions, aiming to bridge regulated payments and DeFi. Meanwhile, there have been rumors that Circle is exploring a partnership with Ant Group to extend presence into China.
• Hong Kong continues to attract major players, with over 40 firms preparing stablecoin license applications.
• Circle and OKX have partnered to enable zero-fee, instant USD↔USDC conversions for OKX’s global users, making stablecoin on/off ramps faster and easier.
• OSL acquired Banxa for CAD $85.2 million to scale global crypto infrastructure.

Licensing & Regulations

• China issued its first batch of long-term payment licenses to non-bank payment firms, signaling a shift toward regulatory stability. The first batch includes tech companies like Bytedance, Douyin and Huawei.

Product & Partnership Launches

• Revolut now lets customers send money to China via Alipay, targeting the vast remittance market.
• Dext, a bookkeeping automation provider, and Airwallex teamed up to launch Dext Payments, automating multi-currency bookkeeping and supplier payments for SMEs.

Other News

• Shein filed for a Hong Kong IPO, to pressure London listing approval.
• TikTok is preparing a U.S.-specific app with its own algorithm and user data storage to address regulatory scrutiny.