The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong has proposed increasing its staff for crypto regulations as the region continues its drive to become crypto hub.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has included this in its 2025-26 fiscal budget, starting April 1, 2025, as part of a broader effort to strengthen crypto regulations.

The proposal suggests hiring eight additional employees to support regulations, market surveillance, and enforcement investigations related to virtual assets.

This is part of a broader plan to add 15 new positions across the SFC.

The regulator expects its recurrent expenditure to rise to HK$2.59 billion (US$332.4 million), a 7.2% increase from the forecasted expenditure for 2024-25.

This increase primarily results from higher staff costs, including an average salary increment of 2.1%.

In 2023, the SFC inspected only 200 licensed corporations, falling short of its target of 300.