Hong Kong plans to license digital asset exchanges by the end of 2024 after a five-month review of crypto platforms, as announced by Eric Yip, Executive Director for Intermediaries at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), during Fintech Week.
Exchanges will move from provisional to full licenses once they meet SFC regulatory standards and address compliance issues. To ensure ongoing communication, the SFC will establish a panel of representatives from licensed exchanges by early 2025.
In addition, Hong Kong will regulate over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks and custodial services for digital assets.
The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. will launch a Virtual Asset Index Series, providing new Bitcoin and Ether pricing benchmarks for the Asia-Pacific region.
Alongside these initiatives, Hong Kong introduced its first AI policy guidelines for finance, aiming to regulate AI’s integration into the sector.
Christopher Hui Ching-yu, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, outlined a strategy to promote AI adoption while managing regulatory challenges. He also announced plans to enhance tax incentives for virtual asset ownership to strengthen Hong Kong’s position in the digital asset market.
For the first time, Goldman Sachs, the world’s second-largest investment bank, has acknowledged cryptocurrencies in its annual shareholder letter.
A significant legal development has taken place in the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings of the collapsed crypto hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital (3AC).
BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) has surpassed $1 billion in tokenized assets as of March 2025.
Bolivia is turning to cryptocurrency as a potential solution to its ongoing fuel crisis and declining foreign reserves.