Cryptocurrency exchange OKX to apply for virtual asset licence in Hong Kong as city overhauls regulations
- OKX said in a statement on Tuesday that it is applying for the licence in Hong Kong just two months before the city will officially make crypto trading fully legal
- Many in the crypto industry left Hong Kong in recent years after the city introduced a voluntary licensing regime that limited retail participation
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX said it plans to apply for a virtual assets trading licence in the city, in the latest sign of Hong Kong’s growing attractiveness as a global virtual asset hub as US regulators probe Binance and Huobi’s Justin Sun.
OKX, which claims to be the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, said in a statement on Tuesday that it is applying for the licence in Hong Kong just two months before the city will officially make crypto trading fully legal.
Hong Kong’s plan to woo cryptocurrency exchanges has made it an oasis at a time when the global crypto investment community is still reeling from the collapse of FTX, as well as a sharpened regulatory stance in the US.
Lennix Lai, the firm’s managing director of global institutional, said during a media briefing in Hong Kong on Tuesday that OKX sees “immense potential” in the city and is willing to invest in talent and work with regulators “over the next five years to continue building the local ecosystem”.
OKX said it has been preparing for more than a year to meet Hong Kong’s new regulatory requirements governing cryptocurrency exchanges that will come into effect in June this year.