New Zealand drafts stablecoin rulebook while its lone NZD coin shrinks

New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority opened a consultation on November 9 on a class designation for payment stablecoins pegged to the New Zealand dollar. Under the draft, those coins wouldn't be treated as financial products under the Financial Markets Conduct Act. To qualify, issuers would need New Zealand dollars held in a bank backing the token and face-value redemption.

The FMA frames it as a temperature check. General Counsel Liam Mason said the aim is to see whether stablecoin products can get a clearer path to market in the interim without undermining confidence in the country's financial system. There is no dedicated crypto or stablecoin licensing law sitting underneath the designation — the regulator is carving an exemption out of securities law instead. Longer-term rules for digital assets, it says, are still being written.

The domestic picture is rough. Earlier this year the FMA ruled that NZDD — issued by Easy Crypto subsidiary ECDD Holdings — is not a financial product, making it the only NZD stablecoin to clear that bar. Adoption never followed: total supply has reportedly shrunk nearly 50% since August. Easy Crypto's Australian parent Swyftx shut its New Zealand exchange on March 31 and is still looking for a buyer for the stablecoin business it put up for sale.

FMA Chief Executive Samantha Barass didn't sugarcoat the mood, conceding that participants have voiced "frustration" over "uncertainty, cost, and the steep transition to full licensing." The track record backs that up. NZDD was one of six firms admitted to the FMA's December 2024 fintech pilot, and the only one of 24 applicants that actually reached market.

New Zealand is chasing neighbours that already moved. Australia's ASIC treats non-yield-bearing stablecoins as a non-cash payment facility, which generally requires issuers to hold an Australian financial services license, and Canberra has passed digital asset reforms plus proposed a tokenized stored value facility category to govern payment stablecoins directly. Hong Kong granted its first two stablecoin issuer licenses on April 10, 2026, while Singapore published draft legislation on September 1 to write its framework into the Payment Services Act.