Hong Kong is creating a relatively friendly cryptocurrency regulatory system, and plans to open cryptocurrency trading to retail investors as soon as March next year, breaking the current restriction that only professional investors are allowed to trade. And the cryptocurrency ban imposed by China, in stark contrast.
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said that Hong Kong intends to allow trading platforms to provide services to retail investors under the compulsory licensing system for cryptocurrency exchanges that will be implemented in March next year.
Regulators are looking to allow larger cryptocurrencies to go public, but not just specific coins such as bitcoin and ether, the people said, adding that details and timelines are still to be determined and public consultation is expected first. Opinion.
The Hong Kong government is expected to unveil its cryptocurrency policy manifesto at next week’s Hong Kong FinTech Week. In order to get out of the dilemma of political turmoil and brain drain under the epidemic, the Hong Kong government has announced that it intends to relax restrictions on real estate taxes and visas to attract talents to Hong Kong to defend Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center.
The upcoming token regime on retail exchanges could include criteria such as its market cap, liquidity and membership in third-party cryptocurrency indices, the people said.
In response to the news, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission declined to comment.
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission introduced a cryptocurrency regulatory system in 2018, and subsequently proposed the framework of a voluntary licensing system, allowing cryptocurrency exchanges to choose whether to accept the authority’s regulation, and all licensing exchanges can only provide services for professional investors or institutions , the capital threshold is as high as 8 million Hong Kong dollars, which is equivalent to shutting out retail investors.
