Ant Group and JD.com have paused their plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong following directives from Chinese regulatory bodies, including the People's Bank of China and the Cyberspace Administration of China. These companies had initially intended to participate in Hong Kong's stablecoin pilot program, which was established under the Stablecoin Act passed in May. The act introduced a licensing regime for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers.