Hong Kong Security Regulator to Publish Crypto Licensing Guidelines in May
The Hong Kong Securities Futures Commission (SFC) is expected to issue guidelines for obtaining licenses to operate cryptocurrency exchanges within the next month, according to recent sources.
The statement was made by Julia Leung, who is the chief executive of SFC. They are cited in a Bloomberg article published on April 27, which lays out the recommendations.
The upcoming law will benefit bitcoin trading platforms, which from June 1 will be allowed to offer trading services to regular investors. According to Bloomberg, Leung confirmed that more than 150 interested parties participated in the consultation process for the licensing regime.
It looks like Leung was responding to a report published on February 20 and stressing regulatory obligations for Know Your Client (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).
While most of the potential licensees for the Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) program are still awaiting confirmation, certain trading platforms have started offering cryptocurrency-related services to clients while subject to regulation by the SFC.
OSL and Hashkey Group are reportedly two of the few trading platforms SFC has licensed in the past. This information comes from Reuters.
Even though Hong Kong plans to become the next major hub for cryptocurrency trading, not all trading platforms have decided to stay there for the foreseeable future.
Bitget, a cryptocurrency exchange that has $1.4 trillion in reserve assets, announced on April 24 that it would stop offering services to Hong Kong customers after Hong Kong’s VASP system went into effect on June 1.
