Hong Kong proposes allowing retail crypto investments

As the cryptocurrency business continues to grow and investor interest increases, a growing number of countries have either hopped on the bandwagon or are considering allowing their people to invest in cryptocurrencies.

South China Morning Post stated on October 17 that Hong Kong’s authorities are considering allowing ordinary investors to directly invest in digital assets as they take a different position from the government of mainland China.

According to the study, the likely attitude change is occurring amid an outflow of financial technology expertise from Hong Kong, which is weakening the territory’s standing as a crypto sector powerhouse, much to Singapore’s Favour.

In keeping with a “goal of growing Hong Kong into a worldwide virtual assets hub,” as the authorities put it, the Hong Kong government had previously stated that its new policy statement on cryptocurrencies will be unveiled during this year’s FinTech Week.

Elizabeth Wong, director of licensing and head of the fintech section at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), said at an InvestHK panel discussion on October 17 that the ‘one country, two systems’ approach was the foundation for ‘Hong Kong’s financial markets.

Wong agreed that the sector has gotten more compliant and stated: “We have four years of expertise in regulating this market. (…) We believe that now is a good moment to seriously consider whether we will continue to need professional investors alone.”

Notably, China maintains a nationwide prohibition on crypto services, but there are exceptions, as a Chinese court recently declared that investors may still trade cryptocurrencies as long as they are recognized as virtual assets and not as a currency, as reported by Finbold.

Also Read: Binance Claims It Doesn’t Use Consumers’ UNI For Uniswap Voting