First Digital, the group behind the Hong Kong-based custodian and the British Virgin Islands-based issuer of the FDUSD stablecoin – a fiat-backed, 1-to-1 US dollar-referenced digital asset – is preparing to go public, CEO Vincent Chok told Sandmark.
First Digital Eyes Listing, Plans Agentic Payments Vault Within Weeks
23 June 2026 - 11:00 CEST
By Stu Clelland
"We have entered into a non-binding letter of intent for a proposed business combination," Chok said. "Upon completion of the proposed business combination and subject to negotiations between parties and regulatory approvals, the combined company is expected to be publicly listed on a national securities exchange in the US."
Agentic vault in three weeks
The announcement comes as First Digital prepares to go live with its first commercial agentic payments product. The company conducted its first live mainnet transaction using AI agents paying via FDUSD in November 2025, but has not yet brought the product to market.
"In about three weeks we're launching our first vault, where AI agents will be able to participate in the vault products," Chok said.
The vault is part of Finance District, First Digital's proprietary agentic payments platform, on which AI agents can execute financial transactions autonomously on behalf of users. Chok said the company has been developing Know Your Agent (KYA) verification – a security framework to prevent AI agents from being defrauded by other AI agents – as a prerequisite for launch.
Finance District is stablecoin-agnostic, meaning it is open to issuers beyond FDUSD. Chok said the $350bn stablecoin market is "a drop in the bucket" compared to where it is heading, and that a platform serving multiple issuers makes strategic sense.
De-peg vindicated, Hong Kong leads
FDUSD faced a de-pegging episode in 2024 in which over $1.3bn was redeemed within four days – a period Chok described as a stress test the company passed rather than a crisis.
"We came back to peg within four hours," he said. "That is genuinely unheard of in this industry, and it's a testament to our compliance, AML framework and internal controls."
On regulation, Chok pointed to Hong Kong's new stablecoin law – under which HSBC and Standard Chartered became the first institutions to receive stablecoin licences – as evidence of the direction of travel globally. He also cited South Korea's draft stablecoin consultation papers, Singapore's licensing framework, the EU's MiCA regulation, and the US GENIUS Act and Clarity Act as confirmation that unregulated issuance has no long-term future.
"You simply won't be able to issue a stablecoin without being regulated," he said.
Emerging markets, the unbanked, and 2027
FDUSD is live on Ethereum (ETH), BNB Chain, Solana (SOL), Sui and Arbitrum (ARB), with the bulk of volume on ERC-20 and BNB. Chok said Sui is the focus of active incentive programmes and that no further chain expansions are planned in the near term.
Chok said consolidation will define the competitive landscape over the coming years, with exchanges increasingly issuing their own stablecoins and making it harder for new entrants to secure the partnerships that drive volume. He sees RWAs – 'real-world' assets brought onchain – along with tokenized stocks and agentic payments as the next sources of growth as altcoin trading volumes decline.
Looking to 2027, Chok said the company's priorities are scaling Finance District and deepening partnerships in South Korea and Vietnam. But he framed the longer-term mission around financial inclusion.
"The combination of blockchain, stablecoins and agentic payments means we can genuinely give people who have no financial footprint the opportunity to build one," he said. "For someone earning $100 a month, putting aside $10 is meaningful – but traditional finance has never been able to serve them."
On market size, Chok said he leans towards the higher end of current projections, which range from $3.5tn to $5tn by 2030, citing FDUSD's cumulative trading volume of over $2tn over three years as the basis for his optimism.
