by Simon Hawkins and Adrian Fong
The latest statements from the government and regulators indicate that Hong Kong is moving forward with enhancing its virtual asset regulatory and legal regime.
The Hong Kong government and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced their policy stances and further measures to support the development of virtual assets (VA) in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Fintech Week 2022. Senior government officials and regulators expressed support for Hong Kong to continue to establish a responsible legal and regulatory framework to develop its VA industry.
The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) published a policy statement recognizing that VAs were “here to stay” and would create opportunities in finance, e-commerce, Web3, and the Metaverse for Hong Kong. Consistent with the policy approach that Hong Kong’s financial services regulators previously mentioned, the government intends to adopt the “same activity, same risks, same regulation” principle to manage risks alongside innovation.