New Zealand'sFinancial Markets Authority (FMA) publisheda 15-page report today (Wednesday) outlining what it learned from its fintechregulatory sandbox pilot. The numbers tell a more complicated story than theframing suggests.Of 24 firmsthat submitted expressions of interest when the pilot launched in December 2024, six were admitted to the cohort. Only one isidentified in the FMA's published timeline as having reached the market in the17 months since.The Pilot's Flagship Is onthe BlockThat firmis ECDD Holdings, the Easy Crypto subsidiary behind the NZDD stablecoin. ECDDreceived the first sandbox exemption and license in December 2025, the FMA said.In March,the regulator granted ECDD a first-of-its-kind designation declaring NZDD is not a financialproduct. Within roughly ten days, Swyftx, Easy Crypto's Australian parent, wasreportedly shopping the stablecoin business, according to NBR.Swyftx thenshut Easy Crypto's New Zealand exchange on March 31, citing regionalstreamlining. The stablecoin business has remained for sale, with demand forthe locally backed NZDD reportedly failing to gain meaningful traction.The Other Five Firms AreStill Working Through the SystemTheremaining pilot participants are Tandym, a group investing platform, Homeshare,which proposed fractionalized real estate, Invest Inya Farmer, an agriculturalassets venture, Emerge, a digital banking entrant and IndigiShare, a Māoricapital access platform.The FMA ChiefExecutive, Samantha Barass, said that participants expressed "frustrationwith uncertainty, cost, and the steep transition to full licensing."“Thesandbox has provided valuable insights into how innovative firms experience ourregulatory system in practice and where more proportionate pathways to marketcould support innovation without compromising regulatory standards or consumer protections.”On-Ramp Lincense Aims toAddress the BottleneckThe FMA isnow building an "on-ramp" license intended to give innovative firms amore proportionate pathway to market. The May 27 report confirmed thatworkstream and added a multi-year program covering virtual assets and payments.The agencyalso flagged a thematic exploration of artificial intelligence in financialadvice, following its Access to Advice report in March.Regionalpeers including Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia have allmoved on stablecoin or digital asset regimes during the past year, narrowingNew Zealand's first-mover window.For now,the FMA's signature sandbox outcome remains a stablecoin whose issuer has beenwound down, and whose token is waiting for a new owner.This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.