Hong Kong Government Signals New Cryptocurrency Policies and Regulations - Lexology

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On October 31, at the launch of this year’s FinTech Week in Hong Kong, the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (“FSTB”) issued a policy statement outlining its vision for developing the virtual assets (“VA”) sector here and outlined several new initiatives aimed at “promoting sustainable and responsible development of the sector”.
Earlier this year (please click here), the Hong Kong government laid extensive groundwork for a VA regulatory regime which began with the SFC and HKMA jointly issuing a guidance circular for all local intermediaries concerning the distribution of VA and provision of services by virtual asset service providers (“VASPs”) in Hong Kong. Then, in June, the government put forward new legislation for a mandatory licensing and regulatory regime for all VASPs in Hong Kong.
Under this new regime, which takes effect on 1 March 2023, VAs which fall within Hong Kong’s statutory definition of securities or futures contracts can only be traded on crypto exchanges operated by intermediaries that have been licensed by the SFC as VASPs. Intermediaries that distribute, deal with or advise on VAs also need to be licensed and comply with existing SFC regulations. And, for the time being, licensed VASPs are only permitted to provide such services to professional investors.
The FTSB’s policy statement acknowledges the significant potential of VAs and proposes several new initiatives that the Hong Kong government hopes will cement Hong Kong’s status as an international cryptocurrency hub.
These are unquestionably ambitious proposals that may go a long way to putting Hong Kong ahead of Singapore as the preeminent cryptocurrency centre of Asia. In the meantime, intermediaries that offer regulated cryptocurrency services have until 1 March 2023 to make all necessary changes to ensure they are fully compliant when the new regulations go into effect on.
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