After months long push by the Hong Kong crypto community and lawmakers, the regulator has finally proposed a relaxation. According to the new announcement, retail users will be able to trade cryptocurrencies in on regulated Hong Kong crypto exchanges.
However, Hong Kong has urged all the exchanges providing services to its residents to register with its Securities and Futures commission by June 2024. A failure to comply with these guidelines will result in an enforcement action.
Hong Kong To Become Asia’s Crypto Center
The move aims to make Hong Kong a financial center for digital assets. Another reason of this relaxation is to document the country’s grey crypto economy. Thousands of Kong citizens have kept trading with offshore brokers during the local ban on trading. This has put users at risk by getting them exposed to unregulated crypto businesses like FTX.
Many countries like United Arab Emirates (UAE) are already leading the crypto adoption by allowing crypto businesses to register with the local regulators. Hong Kong’s ban on crypto activity has long been seen as an obstacle to the city’s adoption of blockchain technology.
Houbi Exchange To Apply For Registration in Hong Kong
Crypto industry has welcomed the relaxation of Hong Kong crypto regulations. The advisor of top crypto exchange Houbi, Justin Sun, has tweeted that they will be setting up a new platform to apply for the SFC license. It must be noted here that only the top digital assets will be allowed for trading as per the proposed changes.
In other news, Hong Kong’s central bank recently has recently issued the world’s first tokenized bond. A total of $100 million were raised by this issuance which will be invested in clean energy. The top regulator of the city has also invited industry expert to help in establishing the new guidelines for the crypto service providers.
The relaxation of crypto regulations by Hong Kong comes at a time when the US SEC is tightening the screws around cryptocurrencies. Recently SEC has filed lawsuits against stablecoins BUSD and USTC.