Hong Kong will unveil guidelines related to virtual assets at the upcoming Fintech Week
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s government will release plans for virtual asset development in the city during the upcoming FinTech Week by the end of the month.
In a blog post published by Finance Minister Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday, the policy statement will consist of the government’s “vision and strategy, regulatory regime, stance on opening up investors’ access to virtual assets, and the technological advantages of virtual assets launch pilot projects.”
The annual Hong Kong FinTech Week will be held from October 31 to November 4, with the theme “Breaking the Boundaries and Creating Extraordinary”. “The police statement will clearly express the government’s position, demonstrate to the global industry our vision to develop Hong Kong into an international virtual asset center, and our commitment and willingness to explore financial innovation with the global asset industry,” the blog post said.
Alongside the traditional fintech events, like last year, Hong Kong FinTech Week will also host the third-generation Internet (Web3), Metaverse and other concepts to add new elements.
“The first-come, first-served principle, in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFT) to distribute limited quantities to participants’ version of the Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) token,” will be part of the blockchain attraction for the annual fintech event.
Owners of these NFT tokens will be given access to create their personal avatars through 3D scanning, according to the blog post. It further added that token holders “will be able to use tokens to participate in other industry events preferably in the future.”
Development of virtual assets in Hong Kong
In the latest developments in the virtual assets sector in Hong Kong, Hashkeys Group and OSL Digital Securities Limited (OSL) have secured Type 1 SFC licensed to handle securities. The Type 1 license also allows OSL to serve investors in Hong Kong through private security token offerings (STOs).
Earlier, Blockchain.News reported that the China-based cryptocurrency exchange is the first regulated digital asset brokerage firm in Hong Kong to facilitate the sale of new asset-backed digital tokens classified as securities to global institutions.
OSL has done that for a while. So far, its institutional clients include the likes of Animoca Brands, Head & Shoulders Financial Group, China Fortune Financial Group Limited, Volmart and Monmonkey Group Asset Management Limited.
OSL first received in-principle approval from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in August 2020, to license the cryptocurrency firm.
Meanwhile, the government has also actively begun to introduce safeguards against illegal acts carried out through virtual assets and blockchain technology.
The government has announced the framework for a new regulatory regime for virtual assets and related products and services. The new framework for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) is primarily designed to combat money laundering and terrorist financing risks. It is scheduled to enter into force on 1 January 2023.
The main highlight of the new security measure is that the VASP regulations consist of new license and regulatory requirements for VASP’s operations.
According to the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau, the licensing requirements of the new VASP regime are highly specialized and technical.
In response to the announcement of the framework for a new regulatory regime, Mayer Brown – a Chicago-based global white-shoe law firm – said: “Hong Kong’s new VASP regime is a recent addition to this area and it will be interesting to see in which degree, if at all, the new regime affects the growth of the VA industry in Hong Kong.”
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