A senior government official of Hong Kong recently revealed their plans to convert the region into a hub for the crypto space.
Hong Kong has reaffirmed its commitment to developing crypto and blockchain frameworks despite a crisis currently underway in the crypto industry due to the bankruptcy of an eminent exchange. The same was echoed by Paul Chan, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, who said that regulatory authorities and their local government are ready to partner with fintech and crypto firms in 2023.
The official revealed in a recent event that they had received numerous requests from crypto companies worldwide who wanted to set up shop in Hong Kong. Other major industry firms have also expressed their readiness to increase their operations in Hong Kong or float IPOs in local exchanges. The financial secretary also claimed that the government was striving to provide the best environment and appropriate regulations to crypto firms to realize the potential of web3.
Paul Chan further listed the list of actions the government had implemented to make Hong Kong one of the most crypto-friendly regions of the world. Legislators had passed a law to enable crypto firms to obtain licenses at par with traditional financial institutions. Regulators and officials were also testing several projects to explore the many advantages of virtual assets. An interesting example of such projects is one where green bonds were tokenized and opened for subscription by institutional investors. Two ETFs for crypto were also released in December 2022. Through such initiatives, Hong Kong has been gradually establishing itself as a crypto hub.