consider the effect of incoming laws on the digital innovation agenda of the region. In November, the Hong Kong government announced plans to ban retail cryptocurrency trading as part of a wider crackdown on money laundering.

In a consultation paper published in November, the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau disclosed that it also had plans to regulate Bitcoin ATMs. Data from CoinAtmRadar shows Hong Kong is home to 62 Bitcoin ATMs.

Speaking to SCMP, Leo Weese, co-founder of the association, spoke against the proposed crypto regulations, stating “To restrict retail individuals from accessing Bitcoin would be overshooting the government’s goals of promoting innovation, and financial inclusion.”

If passed, the new regulatory regime would significantly expand the city’s crypto licensing architecture. At present, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission only mandates registration for exchanges that list crypto securities or futures products.

Earlier in December, fidelity-backed digital assets platform OSL was officially licenced by the Hong Kong SFC. The news finalised the previous announcement by the SFC in August, which decided in principle at that time to grant a licence to OSL pending a review process.

The proposed legislation also parallels some of the tougher mandates in effect in mainland China, where crypto trading is banned. Hong Kong is home to several major crypto trading services including Bitfinex and FTX, with others like OKEx and Huobi maintaining regional offices in the territory.

political statement on Bitcoin. The development surfaced few weeks after Lai was arrested and released on bail by the Hong Kong authorities in relation to the ongoing tussle over the controversial security law. The front page of the latest edition of Apple Daily featured a full-page advert tagged “Bitcoin will never ditch you” with a Cantonese that reads “It’s not you ditching me today. It’s me ditching you”, the advert is believed to be referring to the city banks because it was on record that they have been silencing their customers who had shown support for Hong Kong’s independence. The advert in its later part reiterated that Bitcoin is available to anyone regardless of identity, gender or beliefs and that nobody can stop people from transacting on the network. Delving into the history of BTC, the advert explained that the time has come for the pioneer crypto coin to shine as it will be impossible for anything to shut it down. Hong Kong as a city has been battling ill-effects government sanctions imposed on its citizens by the Chinese Government, and Lai’s arrest has further displayed the reality that the government would not hesitate to prosecute anyone who tries to publicly criticize China. Nonetheless, it is surprising that despite the strict laws imposed on the Honk Kong citizens to deny them of their rights, some of them are finding relief in BTC. Early Bitcoin Investor and founder of Heinberg Capital, Max Keiser, has declared that he is confident that the largest cryptocurrency by market cap will revolutionize the finance sector and force banks into speedy bankruptcy. Keiser said BTC would force banks to fold up just the way COVID-19 has been forcing airlines to close up, the Heinberg Boss arrived at his assertion after making judicious observations of how investors have been buying into the cryptocurrency idea and the speed with which the noble coin has been moving.      The investor pointed out that recent decision by Buffet on Gold is an indication that the billionaire might have likely sighted an approaching negative interest rate and had taken the decision to move his holdings out of the banking sector to be on the safer side.

regulators have given its first SFC-License to OSL. According to the official announcement from the parent company of OSL, BC Technology group:

This license allows the OSL Digital Securities to operate regulated digital asset brokerage and automated trading services, which include Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum [ETH] along with Security Token Offerings [STOs].

The announcement also added that apart from the Hong Kong licenses, OSL has also applied to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a digital asset license under the Payment Services Act. With the first licensed crypto business, OSL will be able to direct the interest of users from other exchanges towards itself. OSL now has a first-mover advantage as it becomes the world’s only listed, SFC-licensed, Big 4 audited, and insured digital asset platform.

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Namrata is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto covering the US and Indian market. A graduate in Mass communication, while majoring in Journalism, she writes mainly about regulations and its impact with a focus on technological advancements in the crypto space.

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friendly to Hong Kong-based crypto-exchanges such as OKEx, Huobi and FTX, as initially perceived. Here, a ‘professional investor’ is defined as a company that manages 40 million HKD in assets or an individual with 8 million HKD in assets. According to Chinese reporter , although OKEx and Huobi have not been backdoor listed by the government, they are rumored to have been investigated by the Chinese police regarding their funding of the Hong Kong listing. According to Wu, Hong Kong’s policy on crypto is ‘very conservative’ and uncompetitive and the main reason behind the attention given to it is the fact that Hong Kong often acts as a testing area for Mainland China’s policies. This view is contrary to the general perception of Hong Kong as a , a city with its own Bitcoin Associated, Ethereum community, Consensys regional Headquarters, Crypto-ATMs, as well as several exchanges and OTC markets. Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), CEO of FTX, addressed these comments by stating that “it is too early to tell how things will play out,” adding that he is monitoring the situation in Hong Kong closely, despite the fact FTX is incorporated in Antigua. There is also an alternative opinion here, one that suggests that these laws may actually be favorable to the crypto-industry overall as Hong Kong increases compliance with the FATF rule. , Director of the Fintech Unit at the SFC, referred to the New Virtual Assets Regulatory Framework as a means to supervise centralized trading platforms with content requirements similar to the existing regime. The expectation is that these platforms will only offer services to ‘professional investors’ at first, stating that, She also added that she believes that the proposal will be beneficial for the Virtual Asset ecosystem in Hong Kong. Such a move offering services to professional investors over retail investors has been perceived by some as a ‘testing ground’ for crypto by the government. Related Topics: Samyuktha is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto. Currently pursuing her Masters in Finance and Business Analytics, she is interested in cryptocurrencies, fintech, and blockchain technology adoption across various sectors.

the announcement, the project which is the second phase of HKMA’s project Inthanon LionRock involves a cross-border payment network design with the Bank of Thailand (BoT) and will be done in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd and fintech startup Forms HK. ConsenSys stated that “having designed and delivered decentralized payment networks with leading central banks including the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the South African Reserve Bank,” it is at the “forefront of developing the blockchain-based technology that enables digitalization and increased global connectivity of financial markets.”  The firm noted that in developing the required solution for the project Inthanon LionRock, it will be using its enterprise Ethereum stack and that it “will test solutions that prioritize scalability, security, and interoperability.” Choice of ConsenSys is Likely Drawn from Extensive Blockchain Engagement The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s choice of ConsenSys is perhaps attributed to the firm’s extensive blockchain engagements over the years. As a blockchain firm, ConsenSys has openly expressed optimism with respect to the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), stating that CBDCs are risk-free compared to the Facebook-backed Libra project. As a result of the company’s position with CBDCs, the firm has been involved with the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Ubin. As a viable way to bolster its blockchain capabilities, ConsenSys acquired US brokerage firm Heritage Financial Systems in an attempt to modernize the municipal bond market, which is notably error-prone and usually out-dated. With the right blockchain-based CBDC architecture to lean on for the project Inthanon LionRock, Charles d’Haussy, Director of Hong Kong at ConsenSys has stated his enthusiasm for taking on the project. The roles of the other two partners, PWC and Forms HK, were not clearly disclosed at press time. Image source: Shutterstock Source Blockchain News

Ventures revealed its plans to work with OMG as it announced the acquisition on December 3.

Based on the announcement, the two firms will work to build “lending and trading platforms” for the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. The company also wants to leverage its connections throughout Asia’s blockchain sector to accelerate the developments within the OMG Network.

They also want to foster partnerships in the entire region. Genesis Block stated that it has engaged deeply with the DeFi industry in 2020, and has created relationships with leading exchanges FTX and Binance.

Twitter-user ‘macro_diary’ responded to this announcement, describing Genesis Block as “the quiet giant” of Asia’s crypto industry.

OMG Network was launched in 2017 going by the name OmiseGo at the time until it was renamed in June 2020. It is a second-layer platform that is capable of executing about 4,000 Ethereum token transfers per second; more than 200 times the speed of the current Ethereum network.

Genesis Block was unveiled in 2017, providing trading services, a co-working office space, four crypto ATMs, and mining hardware. Speaking to reporters in July, Genesis Block’s Charles Yang said that China’s digital yuan will encounter many challenges trying to displace Asian demand for Tether in Asia due to USDT’s borderless nature.

a cross-border payment network with Thailand as the second phase of Project Inthanon-LionRock. ConsenSys will work alongside professional services firm PWC and FinTech Forms HK for the Hong Kong contribution. Project Inthanon-LionRock was launched in 2019 by the HKMA and Bank of Thailand to explore the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in cross-border fund transfers. Inthanon is Thailand’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) CBDC initiative and LionRock is the Hong Kong equivalent.  The experiment involves circumventing the correspondent banking network, allowing direct payments between banks. The aim is to ‘build a proof-of-concept (PoC) where a THB-HKD cross-border corridor network is set up as a bridge between the Inthanon and the LionRock networks”. It seeks to overcome the existing challenges, such as cost, traceability, and regulatory compliance.  ConsenSys has experience in designing decentralized payment networks with central banks before. It was one of the firms to partner with the Monetary Authority of Singapore in Project Ubin, to explore the use of blockchain and DLT in payments and securities’ clearing and settlement. It also partnered with the South African Reserve Bank in Project Khokha, to help create a resilient, cost-effective blockchain-based interbank system. In Project Inthanon-Lionrock, ConsenSys will use its full-stack Ethereum products to test solutions with a focus on interoperability, scalability, and security.  “We are humbled to work on the development of Hong Kong’s Financial Infrastructure,” said Charles d’Haussy, Director of ConSensys Hong Kong.  Despite overseas developments, ConsenSys remained busy on home soil, recently acquiring J.P. Morgan’s Ethereum enterprise blockchain platform, Quorum. The protocol now forms part of ConsenSys’ full-stack Ethereum products.  There’s another Hong Kong connection on the Thai side of the project. Hong Kong-based CryptoBLK is the technology partner for Project Inthanon, which leverages R3’s Corda enterprise blockchain. 

2019 by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) to “study the application of a CBDC to cross-border payments. The release added that ConsenSys will partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers Limited and Forms HK to work on this project.   The firm said it would use its Ethereum stack, to test and come up with solutions for scalability, security, and interoperability, of CBDCs. Moreover, the firm reasoned its use of Ethereum in  by stating:  ConsenSys had previously created decentralized payment networks with leading central banks including the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the South African Reserve Bank, the release stated. Director of Hong Kong, ConsenSys, Charles d’Haussy said in a statement:  Related Topics: Alisha is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto. Her interests lie in blockchain technology, crypto-crimes, and market developments in Africa and the United States

ecosystem in the financial year 2019, with most of its applications directed towards enterprise solutions and cryptocurrency trading platforms. Although the year 2019 was marked with violent unrests following the Special Administrative Region’s introduction of the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill in March 2019, the Island has surprisingly witnessed a rapid growth in crypto and blockchain usage. In October 2019, Coin Idol, a popular crypto and blockchain news outlet reported that Hong Kong had witnessed a record high bitcoin transaction volumes, with some exchanges handling up to HKD 13 million, about USD 1.7 million worth of crypto transactions in a single week. A new report by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has indicated that over 600 fintech companies are presently operating in the Island, but blockchain firms showed the biggest growth from 27% in 2018 to 39% in 2019.  The report comes without surprise as the Hong Kong government has mostly been in support of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and crypto to the extent that it has progressed well with its central bank regulated digital currency. Hong Kong Island, although does not recognize crypto as a legal tender, it marked cryptocurrencies as “virtual assets” that citizens are free to venture into.   In January, China Morning Post reported that Hong Kong government, in partnership with Thai Central bank had launched “corridor network,” a blockchain-driven platform that the two countries co-developed to boost bilateral trades using central bank regulated digital currencies. The Hong Kong Island ecosystem comprises a mixture of industry and academia including prominent research institutions such as the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), Hong Kong Science Park (HKSTP) and other institutions working alongside the government. Hong Kong, according to the report now ranks 12th in fintech adoption with a score of 67%, showing more than double increase from just 32% in 2017. Hong Kong Island, a famous financial centre in Asia presents a conducive environment for fintech growth. The island’s supportive policies towards crypto and blockchain technology will continue to shape how business is done on the Island. Show comments(0 comments)

event was held in Bangkok Thailand and in 2017, it was held in Studio City, Macau. Hybrid Summit 2019 will be held on March 7th at the AsiaWorld Expo.Hong Kong blockchain week will kick off on March 4th and will conclude on the 8th. The week starts off with a sunset cocktail hour for VIP ticket holders only. On the 7th, the Hybrid Summit event will kick off, and there are currently nine speakers listed so far. Hybrid Summit is one of two conference events that will be hosted during the Hong Kong Blockchain week.Headlining the Hybrid Summit event is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Fundstrat, Thomas Lee. Lee commented on Hybrid Summit saying:“Hybrid Summit is one of the most well organized and produced events not only in the blockchain space in Asia but of any worldwide. Incredible knowledge and ideas shared on a world-class stage makes for a must-attend conference series.”>> Morgan Creek Digital Secures $40M Backing from Public Pension FundsAnother big name that will be speaking on the 7th at Hybrid Summit 2019 is Charles Hoskinson. Hoskinson is well known in the blockchain community. He is one of the original co-founders of Ethereum (ETH) and is currently the CEO of Input-Output (IOHK). IOHK is a technology company that is “committed to using peer-to-peer innovations to provide financial services to three billion people who don’t have them.” Currently, IOHK is working on Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Cardano (ADA).Hybrid Summit 2019 seeks to educate thousands on the potential of blockchain technology and is geared towards experts and beginners. Currently, Hong Kong blockchain week has over 120+ speakers and 3000+ delegates in attendance. VIP tickets are still on sale, so get them while they’re hot!Morgan Creek Digital Secures $40M Backing from Public Pension Funds3 Altcoins That Have Potential To Be The Next Ethereum Or Bitcoin

the statement, these activities fall under the Trade Description of Ordinance. Hong Kong has been trying to change the crypto landscape for some time now. It has been the centre for Fintech innovation and other significant markets within the growing Blockchain economy. '0']));The Country supports a much more specialised Administrative region and benefiting from a different legislative ruling than China. There is currently no statutory regulations that apply directly to cryptocurrencies. This has pushed Hong Kong to try changing the way this works. Hong Kong’s #Securities & #Futures Commission (#SFC修行) will propose a regulatory regime known as a "sandbox" for #crypto exchanges in the Asian financial hub#CryptoNews #Regulation #FinTechhttps://t.co/CTZ6mqCb8a— SharkCIA News (@SharkCIANews) November 4, 2018Back in November of 2018, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) revealed a proposal for a new framework of regulation with crypto exchanges. The SFC has been approaching this matter from an explorative standpoint and according to the CEO of SFC, Ashley Alder: “Those exchanges that want to be regulated by us will be set apart from those that don’t. This is essentially an opt-in approach for exchanges and platform operators. And they will first explore the conceptual framework with us in a strict sandbox environment.” The country currently allows crypto exchanges to require to only deal with institutional investors. Which the SFC sees as safeguarding investors. ot_0',124,'0']));The recent regulation spike in cryptocurrency is also a sign of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency markets growth over the years as companies, institutions and individuals have been confirming the growth and acceptance of cryptocurrency as a legitimate asset class. The Sandbox proposal has made things move a step closer in the wrong direction. According to Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong, Leo Weese, the recommendations are unnecessary and may lead to the shutdown of exchanges. “While Hong Kong was a better place when it did not bother such platforms, it was inevitable this day would come. Exchanges will likely maintain parts of their teams in Hong Kong, but work harder to convince the public of new narratives that places them outside the SAR.” Many hope, that Hong Kong will not be following in the leads of China when it comes to the mining of bitcoins. However, the worlds largest crypto mining equipment company, Bitmain has lapsed its IPO applications for the Hong Kong Stock exchange. Even though regulations is a necessary component for early investors to get into this cryptocurrencies as this brings them protection and confidence, it is not a requirement, as cryptocurrencies are already heavily regulated by their own algorithms, Internet protocol, mining, peer-to-peer system and crypto-economics. Chinese banks economy finance government Mining Bitcoin My occupation is the Research of blockchains and their practical applications in the economy. I have graduated through various levels of education, including electrical technique, Business, Psychology, and innovative technologies. 121,'0'])); Travel agency in the UK starts accepting Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash Microsoft Azure adds Bitcoin RSK to its cloud service Blockchain Africa Conference 2019 was a success ot_6',123,'0']));

transact. From Smart Contracts to Distributed Autonomous Organizations, Ethereum's new blockchain and Turing-complete scripting language aims to give us the tools to fulfill this promise. This is a group to create discussion and interest in Ethereum, and hopefully create a strong community of legal/financial/business professionals to conceive and commission Ethereum projects, and developers to build them. There's a big road out there, let's see where we can go!Organizersand 1 otherYanMemberKlaus T.MemberJeremy W.MemberyazhoucaishenMemberNicolas M.MemberlixujasonMemberBrian L.MemberArthur B.Member+149

appear to be much in crypto adoption.

However, a string of ads is beginning to circulate in the region to encourage people to accept this new asset class.

The association is reportedly plastering ads on billboards, double-decker buses, and other high-rise areas citywide. These ads advertise Bitcoin, including its benefits and possible risks.

According to a website, the initiative was funded through donations to the BAHK. The association added in the press release:

“We hope the campaign will give us the opportunity to discuss how Bitcoin fits into a quickly digitizing global economy, the opportunities and dangers of drastic technological advancements, and the implications of digital, verifiable scarcity.”

The organization adds that this initiative isn’t to promote any company within the crypto space. Instead, it’s merely an educational piece that hopes to sensitize the locals about Bitcoin’s benefits.

These ads are just the second in a string of Bitcoin promotions that have proper up in Hong Kong within the past month. Late in August, a source on Reddit confirmed that Apple Daily, a top local news source, had run an ad promoting the leading cryptocurrency.

The ad, which claimed that Bitcoin “Would not ditch you.” Featured on a full newspaper page. Unlike the recent ad spree, however, this one didn’t display any company’s colors. It’s still unknown who paid for it. While it loosely mentions Genesis Block — a Hong Kong-based crypto firm — the ad doesn’t even speak about any place where people can buy the asset.

It adds, “Nobody can stop you from transacting on the network and it cannot be shut down. Bitcoin is available to anyone regardless of their nationality, gender, or beliefs. Bitcoin began with the Genesis Block during the financial crisis of 2009. Now, its time is coming.”

Apple Daily has a bit of a frayed relationship with the government. The news source’s CEO, billionaire Jimmy Lai, was arrested and taken into custody for allegedly violating Hong Kong’s National Security Law. Authorities also ransacked the newspaper’s offices on the same day. 

Lai’s arrest was followed by a protest by pro-democracy activists in the region. Along with the demonstration, locals also turned up in droves to purchase more of the newspaper’s units. Per reports, shares of the newspaper’s parent company — Next Digital — surged over 1,000 percent as a result.