By the summer of Zhen and Jiaxing Li
Hong Kong (Reuters) – Hong Kong is expanding the ways in which investors can trade virtual assets, the financial supervisor said on Wednesday, while the city races racing to become the digital hub of Asia and attract capital.
The Securities and Futures Commission will set up new license regimes for freely available trade in virtual assets and for custody, aimed at stimulating market efficiency and investment protection, said it in a statement on Wednesday.
Derivatenhandel and margin financing options for virtual assets are also being investigated, the regulator said, after the CEO Julia Leung has announced the measures on Coindesk’s Consensus Hong Kong 2025 conference earlier.
Hong Kong first drawn up a plan to become a virtual assets -trading center in 2022 -an attempt that followed the radical prohibition of Beijing on all cryptocurrency transactions on mainland China the previous year.
Since then it has issued the first place to issue crypto-exchange funds in Asia and nine licenses for virtual asset-trading platform (VATP), said Paul Chan, said the financial secretary of the city at the conference.
Regulators also anticipate the regulation of Stablecoins and have introduced the relevant legislation to facilitate further innovation, he added.
These initiatives “reflect our dedication to building a flourishing digital assets ecosystem,” said Chan.
Bullish Group, who owns Crypto news website Coindesk, said that on Tuesday it had become the 10th license -Crypto exchange in the city.
Consensus Hong Kong is the first major meeting in the Crypto industry since the US President Donald Trump took on last month and speakers expressed a bullish look at the regulatory environment.
“There is a big shift in sentiment in the US,” said Richard Teng, Chief Executive of Binance Holdings.
He said that some sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors have gone to debate whether they should invest in crypto to consider how much they should invest.
The price of Bitcoin was more than doubled last year. It reached a record high of $ 109,071 on January 20 of this year, the day of the inauguration of Trump, but has since been withdrawn to be around $ 96,000.
Hong Kong’s push in Crypto is seen by some as offering an indication of Beijing exploring virtual assets instructions, at a time when the new crypto-friendly US government draws up new regulations and explores a national reserve to promote industry .
“I think the specific role of Hong Kong for China, not only in crypto, but in general that’s one country, two systems,” said Lawrence Chu, co-founder and CEO of Digital Activa company Ida.
