Hong Kong to place ‘guardrails’ to mitigate potential risks in virtual assets

This is in line with the development of VAs in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong will put in place guardrails to mitigate potential risks of virtual assets as the government facilitates its development. 

The government has so far taken steps for a new licensing regime for virtual assets service providers.

The Securities & Futures Commission, for its part, will conduct a public consultation to determine how retail investors can have access to virtual assets as Hong Kong eyes establishing Exchange Traded Funds in VA. 

“Our policy stance on VA is now clearly communicated to the global markets and it serves to demonstrate our commitment and determination to explore financial innovations together with the global VA community,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan  said.

Read more: 89% of local investors want to invest in new assets

The Government also noted it is open to future review on property rights for tokenised assets and the legality of smart contracts.

Moreover, Hong Kong is also exploring a number of pilot projects to test the technological benefits brought by virtual assets and their further applications in the financial markets. 

These projects include non-fungible token (NFT) issuance for Hong Kong Fintech Week 2022, Green bond tokenisation, and e-HKD.