Hong Kong to regulate cryptocurrency trading platforms

Around the world, financial regulators are still debating whether and how they should regulate the cryptocurrency industry. In Asia, financial centres such as Singapore and Japan have licensing regimes which require all cryptocurrency trading platforms to be regulated. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) rolled out a regulatory framework specifically for cryptocurrency trading platforms in 2019. Now, this was restricted to those platforms that traded an asset officially classed as a security or future, not just tokens like Bitcoin.

The Hong Kong government will propose a new licensing regime under its anti-money laundering legislation, requiring all cryptocurrency trading platforms that operate there, or target investors in the city, to apply for an SFC licence, according to Reuters.