Hong Kong wants to be the world’s home for virtual assets
- Reference: 1667219408
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/10/31/hong_kong_virtual_asset_hub_plan/
- Source link:
The plan includes licensing regimes for asset providers, regulatory regimes for cryptocurrencies, pilot programs and the opening of retail investments.
“The government, in conjunction with the financial regulators, are working towards providing a facilitating environment for promoting sustainable and responsible development of the VA sector in Hong Kong,” [1]it said in a policy statement.
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“We will put in place timely and necessary guardrails to mitigate actual and potential risks in line with international standards, so that VA innovations can thrive in Hong Kong in a sustainable manner.”
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The government said it was stepping up preparatory work for a new licensing regime for VA Service Providers and engaging with global VA Exchanges.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is also working on a regulatory regime for stablecoins, cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to a fiat currency.
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Meanwhile, the Securities and Futures Commission plans to conduct public consultation on how retail investors can access virtual assets, possibly including exchange traded funds (ETFs), or blends of digital assets such as crypto and NFTs to create a pooled investment security. Currently only professional investors are allowed to invest in virtual assets.
Hong Kong government also said it was exploring NFT issuance, green bond tokenization and e-HKD pilot projects with regulators and is open to reviewing property rights for tokenized assets and the legality of smart contracts.
"We recognize the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and Web 3.0 to become the future of finance and commerce, and under proper regulation they are expected to enhance efficiency and transparency,” said Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui in a statement.
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“The government is prepared to embrace this future, and we welcome the clustering of Fintech and VA community and talents in Hong Kong, and we will promote the sustainable development of financial services across the whole VA value chain," he added.
[7]Hong Kong Watch says its website suddenly can't be seen in Hong Kong
[8]Crypto lender Celsius in Chapter 11 deep freeze
[9]South Korea cancels passport of Terraform Lab's Do Kwon
[10]Interpol seeks Do Kwon, man blamed for $40b crypto implosion
The announcement was released at the start of Hong Kong’s FinTech Week. Hong Kong is about 1.5 times larger than the small island nation of Singapore, another business savvy city hosting its own FinTech Week at the same time.
Last week, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) proposed measures to protect consumers who engage in cryptocurrency trading, including stablecoins, a technology that hasn’t always been known to go so well. The $40 billion [11]collapse of Singapore-headquartered Terra Lab’s "stablecoin" TerraUSD and similar Luna tokens set off what has been called a "crypto winter."
Singapore’s proposed regulations overall put more responsibility on the digital asset provider.
As for Hong Kong, it [12]announced earlier this month it is on the hunt for more tech talent as it seeks to be a technology hub again. The elephant in the room is its continued limited independence from China under the “One Country, Two Systems” plan.
Singapore has seen an influx of individuals and businesses coming from Hong Kong this year, according to Steven Okun, senior advisor and China expert at international trade consultancy McLarty Associates. "The exodus from Hong Kong to Singapore is well underway," [13]Okun said last February. He described Hong Kong as transitioning from a global hub to a Chinese city.
"This is not a western phenomenon," he added. "You are having Chinese businesses which need to have a global presence coming to Singapore, the same as western businesses." ®
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[1] https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202210/31/P2022103000454.htm
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y1--MPgGlNdi3l@eguRpAgAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y1--MPgGlNdi3l@eguRpAgAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y1--MPgGlNdi3l@eguRpAgAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y1--MPgGlNdi3l@eguRpAgAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y1--MPgGlNdi3l@eguRpAgAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/15/hong_kong_watch_inacessible_in_hk/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/14/frozen_cryptocurrency_lending_biz_celsius/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/06/south_korea_to_invalidate_passport/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/26/korea_interpol_do_kwon/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/terrausd_luna_crash/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/20/hongkong_tech_talent_trawl/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/15/hong_kong_watch_inacessible_in_hk/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: No.
Agreed. Hong Kong is the last place to use for financial transaction of any kind. (Well, besides the rest of China.)
Re: No.
You got there before I did. As I said in response to [1]a similar story a couple of weeks back , it's clear that "one country, two systems" has been effectively dead in all but name since the 2019/20 crackdown, as are any supposed protections it offered.
The legal distinction and bureaucratic machinery might still be in place, but the Chinese government has made clear that it can- and will- interfere with and override anything they don't like. No-one with any sense would risk relying upon that any more; to all intents and purposes, Hong Kong is now simply a part of Mainland China.
Couple this with the increasingly autocratic and hostile direction in which Xi Jinping is taking the country (particularly from the point of view of foreign investors), and no-one with half a brain is going to touch this proposal with a bargepole.
[1] https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2022/10/20/hongkong_tech_talent_trawl/
Re: No.
Fully agree and if China's sabre rattling about Taiwan being part of China devolves into an invasion, then the subsequent sanctions on China (if not substantially worse) wouldn't bode well for accessing any investments held there.
We recognize the potential of Web 3.0 to become the future of finance and commerce
Yes, replacing physical commodities with cartoon monkeys and pretend money is the way the entire global economy is definitely going to go.
Re: We recognize the potential of Web 3.0 to become the future of finance and commerce
Why not, it seems people pay more attention to unconfirmed drivel than they do to reality these days. The ongoing rise of Homo Stupidi Gulliblus continues. As for Hong Kong, my advice is get out whilst the getting is good.
This Is A Joke?
I can think of no one in their right mind who would give Hong Kong, sorry PRC, the time of day with their money.
What's a Virtual Asset?
Do you mean Intellectual Property? I trust European courts and am fairly certain that Hong Kong and China hold no jurisdiction over anything I'd be remotely interested in.
Do you mean some cultish, misguided fantasy of "ownership" of something accessible by a URI, the requestor of which is NOT authenticated by the server? Because that's just crazy shit!
I really wish that people would be more blatantly accepting of this craziness or else, one day, we might all wake up in a world where someone actually relevant – not I – begins to recognise these claims of "ownership" and "home" and, then, we're properly fucked!
No.
Hong Kong? Is this the same Hong Kong which is part of China and is increasingly being controlled by the CCP?
How about NO to that idea then.
Singapore on the other hand...