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Digital currencies
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Hong Kong retail investors to start trading major cryptocurrency tokens from June 1 as new virtual-assets regime kicks off

  • The SFC has finalised rules that will allow licensed exchanges to sell cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether, to retail investors in Hong Kong
  • The new regulation comes amid the city’s drive to become a global Web3 hub, despite other governments’ growing apprehension for virtual assets

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The new rules established by Hong Kong’s Securities and Future Commission will allow licensed exchanges to sell to retail investors major cryptocurrencies including ether and bitcoin. Photo: Shutterstock
Xinmei Shen
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has finalised rules to allow retail trading of cryptocurrencies from June 1, the regulator announced on Tuesday, paving the way for a highly anticipated move in the city’s drive to become a virtual-assets hub.
As indicated in a consultation launched in February, these rules will allow licensed exchanges to sell to retail investors cryptocurrencies with large market capitalisation and high liquidity, including bitcoin and ether.

Platforms can start to apply for a licence on June 1, while those “who do not plan to do so should proceed to an orderly closure of their business in Hong Kong”, the SFC said in a statement on Tuesday.

The regulator indicated at a press briefing on the same day that it has so far not yet approved any cryptocurrency trading platforms for retail investors, but it expects licensed firms to start taking retail traders in the second half of this year.

The logo of the Securities and Futures Commission is seen at its office in Quarry Bay on March 20, 2023. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
The logo of the Securities and Futures Commission is seen at its office in Quarry Bay on March 20, 2023. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

From next month, it will be a criminal offence to serve advertisements for unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges, which covers key opinion leaders promoting such platforms, SFC officials said. A person who uses fraudulent or “reckless” means to induce another person to acquire virtual assets would also be breaking the law, they added.

Hong Kong’s new regulatory framework comes amid the city’s drive to become a global Web3 hub, despite other governments’ growing apprehension of virtual assets.
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