According to reports, ZA Bank, Hong Kong’s largest virtual bank by assets, will offer crypto account services and facilitate crypto-to-fiat exchanges.
According to a report published by Bloomberg on April 12, the bank will function as a settlement bank to enable token deposits at licensed exchanges to be withdrawn in Hong Kong dollars, Chinese yuan, and U.S. dollars. It will also provide account services to cryptocurrency firms.
The accounts for local crypto firms result from a trial in a regulatory environment in which approximately one hundred firms participated. However, ZA Bank CEO Ronald Iu noted that mainland Chinese clients would not be offered the service due to the country’s restrictions.
Iu added that HashKey and OSL are the only licensed crypto exchanges in Hong Kong presently offering currency conversions.
He stated that ZA Bank would offer the same services at other exchanges once licensed.
As crypto firms in the United States struggle to find banking partners in the wake of the failure of crypto-friendly banks Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Bank, and Signature Bank, the Hong Kong-based ZA Bank appears to offer a potential remedy, with Iu adding:
Priority number one for the dozens of interested companies, large and small, foreign and domestic, is to find a way to make things work.
The announcement from ZA Bank follows a concerted effort by Hong Kong regulators to transform the region into a crypto hub. Many in the crypto community believe that Hong Kong’s approach, compared to the hostility of U.S. regulators, will aid it in achieving its goals.
According to reports, Chinese state-owned banks have taken an interest in the crypto firms migrating to the city and are either offering banking services to them or inquiring with them.
