Buy bitcoin with FPS (Faster Payment System)

What is FPS (Faster Payment System)?

FPS, the Faster Payment System, is Hong Kong's instant retail payment rail. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority introduced it in 2018 and Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited operates it, connecting banks and stored value facility operators on a single platform. It carries both Hong Kong dollars and renminbi, and you can address a payment to an account number or to a proxy the recipient has registered, such as a mobile number, an email address or an FPS ID. Both the HKD and RMB systems are designated under the Payment Systems and Stored Value Facilities Ordinance.

Speed

FPS runs around the clock every day and most participants credit the beneficiary almost instantly, though HKICL warns that some institutions take a few hours or until the next business day.

Cost

HKICL publishes no consumer price and tells users to ask their own bank or stored value facility about service charges.

Limits

Banks and stored value facility operators each set their own thresholds by payment type, so your ceiling comes from the institution rather than from FPS itself.

Speed and cost describe the rail itself. What an exchange adds on top varies by platform and is shown per exchange below.

Using FPS (Faster Payment System) in Hong Kong

FPS (Faster Payment System) appears in one country guide on this site, Hong Kong, where deposits settle in Hong Kong dollar (HKD). Buyers there fund exchange accounts with HKD bank transfer, Credit or debit card as well, and the country guide ranks the exchanges that take each one.

Buy bitcoin with FPS (Faster Payment System) in Hong Kong