Hong Kong’s Crypto Licensing Scheme - South China Morning Post SCMP 香港南華早報 2024/3/1 鏈1傳媒 Link1.us
A last-minute race to get in applications for virtual asset trading platform (VATP) licences ahead of the February 29 deadline this week saw the number rise to 24 by Friday, according to the latest tally on the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC.hk ) website. Cryptocurrency exchanges operating or marketing in Hong Kong that have not yet submitted an application must now leave the city by May 31. All the major crypto exchanges with ties to mainland China or Hong Kong, which include some of the biggest names in the industry, have applied for a licence either themselves or through affiliates. HBGL Hong Kong, an affiliate of HTX, formerly Huobi Global, submitted an application twice for its Huobi HK platform. HTX, formerly Huobi Global, is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. HKVAEX, an affiliate of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, applied for a licence in April, while OKX, another large exchange founded in China, applied back in November. Most of the applicants are local exchanges, while OSL and HashKey are currently the only exchanges licensed to serve retail investors.“I think the SFC is doing a very strong regulation,” said TonyTong, co-chairman of the Hong Kong Blockchain Association HKBA.club after he spoke on a panel at the Economist Impact’s “Technology for Change Asia” conference this week. “I think it’s very good that many companies are coming to apply for the licence, but whether you can profit from the licence is yet to be proven.” Tong said he still believes Hong Kong is a competitive destination, as it allows crypto firms to tap into developer talent in mainland China.Just the process of applying for an SFC licence in Hong Kong comes at a much higher cost. The entire process, which includes paying for an external assessor and hiring a local responsible officer (RO), could cost upwards of HK$60 million (US$7.7 million). Angela Ang, a former regulator with the Monetary Authority of Singapore MAS who is now the senior policy adviser at blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, said she was initially surprised by the relatively low number of applicants on Thursday but that it makes sense given the stringent requirements. “And then there’s the RO requirement,” she added. “I think that’s something that is very, very unique to Hong Kong. ROs themselves have to be individually licensed, and they have a high degree of personal liability.”Unlike Singapore, there is no clear indication of how many virtual asset platforms were eligible for the one-year grace period granted to those already operating in the city before June 2023, Ang noted. Singapore’s MAS gave crypto companies one month to give notification that they are a pre-existing operator and intend to get licensed. About 70 companies had officially applied for a license by the end of 2021, Bloomberg reported at the time, three times the number of applicants in Hong Kong so far.“The limitations imposed by the framework partially limits the scope of activities and services that can be offered to customers,” said Alessio Quaglini, co-founder and CEO of Hong Kong-based digital asset custodian HexTrust. “In particular, it is unlikely that under the current regime VATPs will be able to operate global businesses competitively leveraging their license in Hong Kong.”Last month, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau FSTB issued a public consultation on regulating over-the-counter (OTC) trading services, as they are seen as one avenue of surreptitiously moving money and a means of skirting mainland China’s capital controls.Blockchain analytics firm Chainalsysis said in an October report that Hong Kong’s crypto trading activity heavily skews towards OTC services relative to other markets in the region.Since Hong Kong revealed its intent at the end of 2022 to become a crypto hub and attract back some of the business that had previously left the city, questions have been raised over whether its regulations are competitive enough while Singapore, Japan and other markets are pursuing their own policies. In a broader Web3 push, Hong Kong also aims to regulate tokenised securities STO and stablecoins, and the monetary authority is exploring a digital Hong Kong dollar.Henry Zhang, founder and CEO of Singapore-based tokenised asset company DigiFT who worked in the Hong Kong and mainland finance industries, said Hong Kong and Singapore are on the right track. DigiFT, already licensed in Singapore, plans to get licensed in Hong Kong. Alex Manson, the head of Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, said he sees a convergence of global crypto regulations. Ecosystems, not regulators, are what compete with each other, he said, but there is no clear jurisdictional advantage in Asia right now. https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3253817/hong-kongs-crypto-licensing-scheme-attracts-less-interest-singapore-24-applicants-day-after-deadline 香港區塊鏈協會 Hong Kong Blockchain Association HongKongBlockchain.org www.HKBA.club Link1.in/HKBA , X.com/HKBAclub , Facebook.com/HongKongBA Email: PR@HKBA.club Com2000.org Web3 Incubator Accelerator Linkedin.com/company/HongKongBlockchainAssociation ( Link1.us 鏈1傳媒 - 新聞內容由 FoxAI 翻譯: https://FoxGpt.club )
香港的加密货币牌照计划(香港南华早报,2024年3月1日)
据证券及期货委员会(SFC.hk)网站的最新统计,为了赶在本周二(2月29日)的截止日期前提交虚拟资产交易平台(VATP)牌照申请,导致最后一刻的申请数量在周五达到了24个。
在香港运营或进行市场营销的加密货币交易所,如果尚未提交申请,则必须在5月31日前离开该城市。
包括该行业的一些知名企业,都已经自行或通过附属公司申请了牌照。 HBGL 香港,HTX(原名 Huobi Global)的一个附属公司,为其 Huobi HK平台提交了两次申请。
HTX,原名 Huobi Global,是世界上最大的加密货币交易所之一。 Binance 的附属公司 HKVAEX,也是世界上最大的加密货币交易所之一,于四月份申请了牌照,而在中国成立的另一个大型交易所OKX则在去年11月申请了牌照。大多数申请者是本地交易所,而 OSL 和 HashKey目前是唯一获得批准为零售投资者服务的交易所。
“我认为SFC正在实施非常严格的监管,” 香港区块链协会 HKBA.club 联合主席 TonyTong在本周的 Economist Impact”亚洲技术变革”会议上发言后表示。 “我认为很多公司来申请牌照是非常好的,但你是否能从牌照中获利,还有待证明。” TonyTong表示,他仍然相信香港是一个有竞争力的城市,因为它允许加密货币公司挖掘中国大陆的开发人才。
在香港申请SFC牌照的过程成本非常高。整个过程,包括支付外部评估费用和聘请本地责任官员RO,费用可能高达6000万港元(约USD$770万美元)。新加坡金融管理局MAS的前监管者、现为区块链分析公司TRM Labs的高级政策顾问Angela Ang表示,她最初对周四申请者数量相对较少感到惊讶,但鉴于严格的要求,这是合理的。 “还有RO要求,”她补充说。“我认为这是香港非常独特的。RO本身必须单独获得牌照,并且他们承担高度的个人责任。”
Ang指出,与新加坡不同,香港没有明确表示有多少虚拟资产平台有资格享受2023年6月之前已在城市运营的一年宽限期。新加坡的MAS允许加密公司一个月时间通知他们是预先存在的运营商并打算获得牌照。据彭博社报道,到2021年底,大约70家公司正式申请了牌照,是香港目前申请者数量的三倍。
“该框架施加的限制部分限制了可以向客户提供的活动和服务的范围,”香港数字资产托管公司 HexTrust的联合创始人兼CEO Alessio Quaglini表示。”特别是,在当前体制下,VATPs不太可能能够利用其在香港的牌照在全球范围内竞争。”
上个月,财政服务及库务局FSTB发起了一项公开咨询,旨在对场外交易OTC服务进行监管,因为它们被视为一种秘密转移资金的途径,也是规避中国大陆资本管制的手段。区块链分析公司 Chainalysis在十月份的报告中表示,与该地区其他市场相比,香港的加密货币交易活动严重偏向OTC服务。
自从香港在2022年底透露其成为加密中心并吸引一些之前离开该城市的业务的意图以来,人们提出了是否其规定足够有竞争力的问题,而新加坡、日本及其他市场正在追求自己的政策。在更广泛的Web3推动中,香港还旨在监管代币化证券STO和稳定币,并且货币当局正在探索数字香港元。
在香港和中国大陆金融行业工作过的新加坡基于代币化资产公司DigiFT的创始人兼CEO Henry Zhang表示,香港和新加坡正走在正确的道路上。DigiFT已在新加坡获得牌照,并计划在香港也获得牌照。渣打银行 SC Ventures的负责人Alex Manson表示,他看到全球加密法规的趋同。他说,是生态系统而不是监管机构在彼此竞争,但目前在亚洲还没有清晰的管辖区优势。
https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3253817/hong-kongs-crypto-licensing-scheme-attracts-less-interest-singapore-24-applicants-day-after-deadline
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香港區塊鏈協會 Hong Kong Blockchain Association HongKongBlockchain.org www.HKBA.club Link1.in/HKBA , X.com/HKBAclub , Facebook.com/HongKongBA Email: PR@HKBA.club Com2000.org Web3 Incubator Accelerator Linkedin.com/company/HongKongBlockchainAssociation