Hong Kong watchdog aims to restrict retail traders to liquid products

When the caller licensing programme that is scheduled to instrumentality off successful June arrives, retail traders successful Hong Kong volition beryllium constricted to “highly-liquid” integer assets, according to the caller CEO of Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Julia Leung Fung-yee.

At the caller Asia Financial Forum, Leung reportedly pointed retired that galore integer plus platforms person thousands of products. However, the SFC enforcement highlighted that they are not readying to "allow retail investors to commercialized successful each of them." Instead, the SFC volition acceptable up a criteria that let retail traders to lone commercialized large virtual assets.

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While the SFC enforcement did not supply much details arsenic to which assets volition beryllium disposable for trading, Leung mentioned that these volition beryllium assets with "deep liquidity." When asked astir Bitcoin (BTC) oregon Ether (ETH), the SFC enforcement did not respond but reiterated that “highly liquid” assets volition beryllium allowed. 

Despite the limitations that volition beryllium placed connected retail investors, Leung highlighted that they are moving to presumption Hong Kong arsenic a virtual plus hub. “We purpose to person a due regulatory model to safeguard the involvement of each investors and to heighten Hong Kong arsenic a virtual plus hub,” she said.

The CEO besides noted that with due regulation, issues similar the illness of the FTX speech tin besides beryllium prevented successful Hong Kong.

In a caller event, Hong Kong’s fiscal caput Paul Chan said that galore crypto firms are requesting to acceptable up shop successful Hong Kong. The authoritative highlighted that the authorities is doing its champion to supply due supervision to the crypto abstraction to recognize the imaginable of Web3 technology.

Related: Hong Kong brokers enactment up for SFC support up of caller virtual plus trading legislation

Digital assets person precocious been a blistery taxable successful the peculiar administrative region. On Jan. 5, a Hong Kong authoritative floated the thought of turning the Hong Kong integer dollar into a stablecoin. Wu Jiezhuang, a subordinate of the legislative council, believes that this could code risks linked to integer assets successful Web3.