With its multi-currency advantages and regulatory clarity, Hong Kong has become a critical gateway connecting stablecoins – cryptocurrencies pegged to a stable asset like the US dollar – with traditional finance. Executives said this would help businesses cut costs, lower risks and support expansion into emerging markets.The city’s unique positioning stemmed from its century-long role as a gateway for international business, said Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, the parent company of Kraken – a top-tier cryptocurrency exchange in the United States – in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post.Stablecoins and blockchain technology were reshaping the city into a global, round-the-clock liquidity hub, enabling businesses in regions with weak banking infrastructure, such as Africa and Latin America, to access capital at any time, Sethi said.Payward recently completed a US$600 million acquisition of Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies, a stablecoin-native payments infrastructure provider, marking its first and largest such acquisition in Asia.“We’re going to expand into Asia, including expansion into Singapore, through Hong Kong. This is our gateway as a company and that’s what we decided,” Sethi said when evaluating the two financial hubs, noting that both naturally attracted distinct financial services.Sethi emphasised that legacy banking networks and SWIFT – the global financial messaging system – were often inefficient or practically non-existent in parts of Africa and Latin America. These structural gaps meant weekend delays could disrupt entire supply chains, he added.