Hong Kong is planning to let retail investors trade digital tokens on licensed exchanges.
Consultation for the new policy under the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) ends on March 31, with retail trading targeted to start on June 1.
To protect investors, safeguards such as knowledge tests, risk profiles, and exposure limits will be put in place.
Under the new proposal, all centralized virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong – or those active in the market – will need to acquire licenses and be regulated by SFC.
Accordingly, licensed platform operators should have an admission and review committee to decide what virtual assets can be set up for trading and what tokens should be withheld from trading.
The regulator has not specified which large-capitalization tokens will be allowed as of now, but they should be included in at least two investible indexes from independent providers.
It appears that Hong Kong is competing to be the Asian crypto hub. Recently, it was also reported that Huobi is looking to move its Asia base from Singapore to Hong Kong, where the crypto exchange will expand the workforce from 50 to 200 people within this year.
See also: US stablecoin clampdown may give Japan a chance to shine
Editing by Thu Huong Le and Eileen C. Ang
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