JD.com plans to apply for stablecoin licences in every major currency jurisdiction, founder and chief executive Richard Liu said on 18 June. The Beijing-based e-commerce group, valued at about US$42 billion, expects the move to cut cross-border payment costs by 90% and reduce settlement times to less than 10 seconds. Subsidiary JD Coinlink is already testing compliant stablecoins pegged to the Hong Kong dollar and other currencies within Hong Kong’s regulatory sandbox. The company will target business-to-business transactions first before extending the service to consumers. Liu, who called the past five years JD.com’s “darkest period,” said the stablecoin initiative forms part of a broader push to accelerate the firm’s overseas expansion.