The Hong Kong government is currently working on a crypto bill that would establish clear policies to facilitate the market’s expansion.
According to Liang Hanjing, director of financial technology at InvestHK, the Hong Kong government department for foreign direct investments, the bill pertaining to the regulation of cryptocurrencies is indeed anticipated to be passed in the Legislative Council in the first quarter of 2023, as Baidu reported on October 22.
His remark comes shortly after Chen Maobo, the finance secretary, and Xu Zhengyu, the secretary for the Treasury Department, had warned the public that clear laws on crypto assets would likely be released during the Hong Kong Fintech Week, which begins on October 31.
What does the bill hope to accomplish?
Given that there are currently such platforms functioning in Hong Kong and that such transactions pose money-laundering dangers, the government, according to Lian Hanjing, wants to “create a licensing system for virtual asset service providers (VASPs).”
He continued by saying:
“Any person operating a business providing virtual asset services in Hong Kong, or actively promoting virtual asset services to the Hong Kong public, must submit to The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission [that it] has applied for and obtained a VASP license in advance, and [that it] abides by the relevant anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws and regulations.”
Liang Hanjing anticipates that the city’s Legislative Council will approve the law including this modification in the first three months of 2023. He anticipates that at that time, additional VASPs would request licenses from the authorities, and bitcoin trading will “flourish.”
Competing to become the crypto leader
As was previously reported, the Hong Kong government is thinking about allowing individual investors to engage directly in the purchase of digital assets. With this in mind, it adopts a different position from that of mainland China in the midst of the fintech migration that is giving Singapore an advantage as the center of the cryptocurrency business.
Months after declaring that an amendment to the impending Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Bill would include high sanctions for illegal crypto firms and their promotion, it appears that the territory’s officials are softening their position on the sector.
