On December 17, 2024, BTC hit a record high at $108,365. From less than $50,000 at the beginning of the year to a price that doubled, BTC led the field of virtual assets. established a firm foothold on the world stage.

In the past year, Hong Kong has made full preparations for the integration of "old money"; each segment has delivered its own results.

Seven virtual asset trading platforms have been approved for No. 1, No. 7 and AMLO licenses;

6 virtual asset spot ETFs were listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange;

31 securities firms were upgraded to the first virtual asset license;

36 asset managers acquire virtual assets 9 License plate upgrade

The RWA track that has attracted much attention, the Hong Kong government issued over 6 billion multi-currency digital green bonds, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Ensemble sandbox, and stable coins Sandbox, Ant Digital and GCL Nengke jointly exceeded 200 million yuan in photovoltaic physical assets RWA, etc.

However, it cannot be denied that the crypto asset side of Hong Kong's primary market and the capital side of the secondary market have not yet fully ushered in the dawn, and they urgently need to be accelerated and resolved in the future. On the crypto-asset side of the primary market, the Hong Kong virtual asset trading platform is extremely strict in screening crypto-assets. Although the high threshold ensures market compliance and stability, it also sets up great obstacles for the entry of emerging assets. In terms of secondary market capital, mainland China has not yet opened due to restrictions, and the secondary market capital side has to face local Hong Kong and overseas users; while user resources in overseas markets have already been seized by platforms such as Binance, OKX and Coinbase, making transfers extremely difficult.

How to find a balance between ensuring market security and promoting innovation in high-quality projects and assets to attract the inflow of "old money" that has not yet been involved? This is the core issue in the Hong Kong market in 2025.

This issue of Bailu Living Room leads readers to comprehensively review the development of Hong Kong’s virtual asset market in 2024, and jointly explore new opportunities in 2025 from the trends.

7 virtual asset trading platforms

As of January 11, 2025, there are 7 virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong that have received formal approval from the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission to carry out virtual asset business in compliance with regulations in Hong Kong.

7 licensed virtual asset trading platforms

OSL and Hashkey continue to lead

On April 19, 2024, OSL Group (00863) announced that it is a wholly-owned subsidiary holding a license issued by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission. and digital asset trading platform OSL Digital Securities Co., Ltd. has become the first virtual asset platform to be approved for a license based on the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO). In May, Hashkey Exchange followed suit and became one of the first fully licensed virtual asset service providers in Hong Kong. The two leading companies still maintain their advantages on the compliance route.

From a business perspective, Hashkey Exchange has launched HashKey Pro, an institutional-level comprehensive service, integrating virtual asset trading capabilities for Zhongan Bank, Shengli Securities and other institutions, accumulating transactions The volume exceeds HK$5 billion. As of November 2024, HashKey Exchange's asset management scale exceeded HK$10 billion, and its cumulative transaction volume reached HK$580 billion. OSL's business is widely deployed in virtual asset spot ETFs and RWA.

HKVAX came from behind

On October 4, 2024, according to the official website of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, the Hong Kong Virtual Asset Exchange (hereinafter referred to as HKVAX) was officially approved by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission and issued Category 1 (securities trading) and Category 7 (providing automated trading services) licenses, and also issued an "operating virtual asset trading platform" license in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO). HKVAX becomes the third regulated virtual asset platform in Hong Kong.

For more news, please refer to: HKVAX was officially awarded a license and became the third licensed virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong

From left to right: Su Shuhui, Chairman of the International Clean Energy Forum (Macau), Fórum Oceano Chairman Carlos Costa Pina, Yacooba Labs Founder and CEO Mauricio Marques and HKVAX Co-Founder and CEO Wu Weiliang

HKVAX focuses on securities Tokenization (STO) and real asset tokenization (RWA) services. On October 18, 2024, HKVAX signed a memorandum of understanding on the blue economy security token project with Fórum Oceano and Yacooba Labs to cooperate on high-quality security token projects related to the European blue economy, covering tokenization, distribution , listing, trading and token custody, etc. On November 29, 2024, HKVAX reached a strategic partnership with Alibaba Cloud, focusing on technical infrastructure, security framework construction, as well as STO and RWA services. Whether HKVAX, which focuses on RWA, can successfully find its own business niche will continue to be watched by the market.

Four institutions were approved at the same time in December

According to the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, on December 18, 2024, HKbitEX, Accumulus, DFX Labs, and EX.IO were all approved on the same day. Approved by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, issued Type 1 (Securities Trading) and Type 7 (providing automated trading services) license, and a license to operate a virtual asset trading platform in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO).

HKbitEX was launched by Hong Kong Digital Asset Exchange Group Co., Ltd., and the parent company behind it is Taiji Capital Group, which includes capital markets and wealth management, digital asset exchanges and Web3 SaaS and technology research and development services in three major sectors. Gao Han, the founder of Taiji Capital, once worked for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and was mainly responsible for promoting Hong Kong Stock Exchange products in the mainland, including Southbound Trading and Bond Connect.

Accumulus is backed by the Fortune 500 and is powered by Cloud Account Greater Bay Area Technology (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. company launched. Cloud Account Hong Kong is registered by Cloud Account and is also the only overseas business headquarters. The group has obtained an overseas direct investment quota of RMB 985 million approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and others in the mainland. According to the official introduction, Cloud Account is the largest online human resources service company. It has served a total of 110 million new employment form workers (freelance workers) from 138 countries and regions. This year, it was selected as the ""Top 500 Enterprises in 2024".

DFX Labs was the last applicant for the Hong Kong virtual asset trading platform last year, led by DFX Presented by Labs Company Limited. The team of DFX Labs is already experienced in the fields of blockchain and financial technology. Chief Operating Officer Simon Au Yeung was formerly CEO of Blockchain Finance and virtual asset trading platform BGE, as well as co-chairman of Hong Kong IEEE; Chief Technology Officer David H. was previously employed At well-known institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Dell Technologies and HashKey Group.

EX.IO is launched by Thousand Whales Technology (BVI) Limited. The main investors of EX.IO include Huasheng Capital Group, an Internet brokerage owned by Sina, as well as Longling Capital, Weixin Jinke Investment, etc. EX.IO, originally named xWhale, was established after the original Web3 trading platform BusyWhale and Huasheng Securities reached a strategic agreement in May last year.

About "Licensing Process and Optimized Phase 2 Assessment" The SFC Circular

Also on December 18, 2024, the Hong Kong SFC issued the "Circular to Virtual Asset Trading Platforms - "Licensing Procedures and Optimized Second Phase Assessment" provides clear roadmap guidance for the 11 institutions still waiting in line for license applications; in early 2025, the China Securities Regulatory Commission will establish a formal advisory group for all licensed platforms. Each licensed institution will appoint its senior personnel to serve as representatives, so that the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission can fully listen to and consider the institution's views and systematically prioritize development issues based on investor protection. In the new year, more outstanding teams will surely join the ranks of virtual asset trading platforms, driving the market to continue to grow.

11 virtual asset trading platform applications are still waiting in line for licensing

Virtual Asset Spot ETF

US Bitcoin SpotThe listing of ETF took nearly 10 years; in contrast, the rapid listing of Hong Kong’s virtual asset spot ETF has become a great highlight of Hong Kong’s determination.

On April 15, 2024, Hong Kong approved in principle Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs; on April 24, Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETFs and Ethereum Spot ETFs were officially approved; on April 30, six virtual asset spot ETFs under ChinaAMC Hong Kong, Boshi International and Harvest International were listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and opened for trading.

For the overview of each participant, please refer to: Approval will be approved as soon as next Monday! A glance at the strength of the layout of 7 Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETFs

Unlike the United States, Hong Kong virtual asset spot ETFs support physical redemptions, allowing investors to deliver physical virtual assets Assets are used to redeem ETF shares, not just through cash transactions. Physical redemption means the underlying asset does not have to be sold immediately, resulting in cost and liquidity advantages. After the physical purchase and redemption process is completed, investors will be able to directly obtain virtual assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum corresponding to the spot ETF fund, and their investment options will be more diversified.

< em>As of January 11, Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETF and Ethereum spot ETF data collected by SoSoValue

On the first day of trading, Hong Kong spot virtual Asset ETF fundraising scale is about 20 billion Hong Kong dollars, with a calculated net asset value of US$293 million. The total first-day trading volume of the six ETFs was approximately HK$87.58 million (approximately US$12.7 million).

As of January 7, 2025, according to data from the Hong Kong Exchange, the total trading volume of the three Bitcoin spot ETFs in Hong Kong reached HK$5.257 billion in 2024; In terms of market volume, the US$129 billion Bitcoin ETF asset management scale accounts for 1.2% of its ETF market, while the same data in Hong Kong is 0.66%, there is no order of magnitude difference between the two proportions. Since its listing, the Hong Kong Bitcoin Spot ETF has seen a net inflow of approximately 380 BTC, and its total asset management scale has increased by approximately 66%.

In 2025, under the influence of the US-led world structure, the impact of Hong Kong virtual asset ETFs on the local financial market will increasingly not be ignored. Tools like ETFs have the opportunity to encourage more traditional institutions to truly embrace virtual assets; only when "old money" pours in will the liquidity of Hong Kong's virtual asset market undergo a qualitative change.

A large influx of securities firms and asset managers

The implementation of ETF only represents the completeness of the tools; the enthusiasm of securities firms and asset managers to enter the market reflects the "old money" in the Hong Kong market Embrace” trend.

Tiger Brokers entered the market with a high profile

On May 6, 2024, according to Yahoo Finance, Tiger Brokers (Hong Kong) officially launched virtual asset trading services; Hong Kong’s Professional investors can trade 18 virtual assets in one stop through Tiger Trade, the investment platform of Tiger Securities.

On January 25, 2024, Tiger Brokers announced that it had obtained the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission’s upgrade of its Type 1 license conditions, allowing professional investors to register with the Securities Regulatory Commission through Tiger Brokers. Will trade virtual assets on a licensed platform.

On March 28, 2024, Tiger Brokers (Hong Kong) obtained a Type 9 license approved by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to provide asset management services, which can provide investors with a A series of asset management services include dedicated account services for retail and professional investors, as well as management of collective investment plans for professional investors.

On May 6, 2024, Tiger Brokers (Hong Kong) officially launched virtual asset trading services, becoming the first group in Hong Kong to support one-stop trading management of traditional securities and virtual assets technology brokerage. At the beginning of the launch of the service, virtual asset trading commissions were as low as 0.2% of the transaction volume, and custody fees were waived. The competitiveness of the rates reflects Tiger Brokers’ firm execution ability to seize a place in the virtual asset market.

For more details, please refer to: Tiger Securities launches virtual asset trading services in Hong Kong and officially enters Web3

Victory Securities maintains first-mover advantage

Victory Securities, a local securities company in Hong Kong, is a pioneer in the field of virtual assets; thanks to the complete set of compliance licenses, Victory Securities has always maintained a leading position in business.

On April 23, 2024, Victory Securities announced that it would becomeAmong the first batch of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong, it is the only participating securities firm that accepts physical subscriptions; on October 15, 2024, Victory Securities announced that it successfully passed the relevant regulatory inquiry procedures on October 10, 2024, and can initiate and Manage Victory VSG virtual asset multi-strategy fund, and the first Web3 launched by a virtual asset investment organizer company licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to accept investors to subscribe for fund units with stable currency Multi-strategy compliance fund; on November 4, 2024, Victory Securities announced that it had obtained permission from the Securities Regulatory Commission to sell cash-settled virtual asset structured products to qualified professional investors, becoming the first licensed company in Hong Kong to be approved for this business. Brokerage dealers.

No matter what heights Victory Securities can reach in the field of virtual assets, they have already My own experience proves that the compliance route is always a race against time. The sooner you embrace supervision, the more opportunities you have to seize the opportunity in the market.

31 securities firms and 36 asset managers are also ready

Tiger Securities and Victory Securities are representatives of securities firms that remain active in the market and attract high Pay attention; in fact, a large number of traditional and new institutions have been awarded virtual asset-related licenses and are ready to start to show their talents.

Judging from the number of securities firms, as of January 11, 2025, 31 securities firms have been approved to complete the upgrade of virtual asset No. 1 license, which can be upgraded through comprehensive The account arrangement provides virtual asset trading services.

p>

According to the official website of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, 31 securities firms have been approved to use integrated accounts Arrange to provide virtual asset trading services

From the perspective of the number of asset management, there are only 11 asset management institutions that have been approved to upgrade the virtual asset license No. 9 in early 2024 and can manage investment portfolios with more than 10% investment in virtual assets; as of January 11, 2025, The number of asset management institutions with the same compliance qualifications has increased to 36.

According to the official website of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, 36 asset management institutions Approved to manage investment portfolios investing more than 10% in virtual assets

With the implementation of the virtual asset license, Hong Kong's financial institutions are preparing for the rapid development of RWA in 2025. From securities firms to asset management, both traditional and emerging institutions have established compliance systems. and technology; on this basis, the entry point for more and more "old money" has been fully opened. Hong Kong’s financial ecosystem is ready to sprint forward in this wave.

RWA, the focus of the next stage of development

Breaking the barriers between the virtual world and the real world, allowing assets and funds to flow freely between the two systems, is a major trend in the world , is also the focus of Hong Kong’s next stage of development.

The reason why RWA is important is that on the one hand it uses blockchain technology to improve transparency and security and solve problems existing in the traditional financial system; on the other hand it , if the market pays, it can fundamentally activate more real assets and attract a wider range of small and medium-sized investors to enter the market, thereby injecting more liquidity into the development of real industries and the digital economy.

The Hong Kong government took the lead in selling the second batch of digital green bonds

On February 7, 2024, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China announced that it had successfully sold digital green bonds under the green bond program. The digital green bonds, denominated in Hong Kong dollars, RMB, US dollars and euros, with a total value of approximately HK$6 billion, are the world's first multi-currency digital bonds.

In 2021, the Hong Kong Center under the Innovation Hub of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank for International Settlements was completed Project Genesis, piloting the issuance of tokenized green bonds in Hong Kong. This issuance is a further development on the basis of this project. According to official news from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, new breakthroughs have been made in four aspects: expanding investor participation, streamlining issuance procedures, introducing standardized elements, and integrating disclosure into digital asset platforms. .

As the world's first batch of multi-currency digital bonds, the settlement and settlement of this batch of digital green bonds uses the CMU system, using HSBC Orion as the digital asset platform. HSBC, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Credit Agricole, Goldman Sachs, ICBC (Asia), UBS, Allen & Overy LLP, Ashurst LLP, and Linklaters LLP have all participated in the preparations for the issuance.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority Ensemble Sandbox promotes agency representation. Monetized Applications

On March 7, 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the launch of a new wholesale-level central bank digital currency (wCBDC) project "Ensemble". The Hong Kong Monetary Authority stated that the project will initially focus on tokenized deposits , that is, commercial bank deposits in digital form issued and provided to the public by commercial banks.

On August 28, 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority held a launch ceremony for the Ensemble project sandbox, announcing that the first phase of the sandbox trial will cover traditional financial assets and the real world Tokenization of assets and focusing on four major themes: fixed income and investment funds, liquidity management, green and sustainable finance, and trade and supply chain finance. Through the trial, the HKMA will verify the technical interoperability between tokenized assets, tokenized deposits and wCBDC, and will also allow industry participants to conduct end-to-end testing of tokenized asset transactions in actual business scenarios.

President of the Monetary Authority Yu Weiman opened the Ensemble project sandbox launch ceremony Words

According to official news from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, members of the Ensemble project architecture working group include Bank (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank, Hashkey Group, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Ant Digital Technology, Microsoft (Hong Kong) and other well-known financial and technology companies. At the international level, the HKMA will explore cooperation opportunities with the Hong Kong Center under the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub on one or more tokenization topics, and work with members of the CBDC expert panel to promote the development of the sandbox.

Stablecoin Sandbox and the Stablecoin Bill

As the cornerstone of RWA, stablecoins are also the focus of development. As early as January 2022, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued a document on the changes to Hong Kong’s regulatory framework.The discussion document was extended to stablecoins, inviting all parties in the industry to discuss, and clarified the preliminary direction of the regulatory framework. In January 2023, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released a consultation summary of discussions on cryptoassets and stablecoins, setting out the expected regulatory scope and key regulatory requirements.

In March 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the launch of a "sandbox" for stablecoin issuers, allowing testing of stablecoin issuance within the regulatory sandbox. On July 18, 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released the list of stablecoin sandbox participants: JD.com, Yuanbi, and Standard Chartered became official participants. The main application scenarios proposed include payment, supply chain management, and capital market use cases, as well as secondary Web3, games and virtual asset transactions, etc.

The HKMA stated that fund transfers under these scenarios may involve transactions in different time zones. Financial institutions, payment service companies, settlement systems, etc. These "middlemen" or financial infrastructure do not operate 24/7, and are quite expensive and inefficient. Stablecoins can not only play the role of a trading medium, reduce costs and transaction time, but also use their programmable features to develop a variety of innovative solutions, automate and intelligentize financial service processes, and facilitate capital flows. Manage various risks associated with trading more accurately.

For more details, please refer to: JD.com, Yuanbi, and Slag are entering the game. Who will win the Hong Kong stablecoin "sandbox"?

On December 6, 2024, Hong Kong published the "Stable Coin Bill" in the Gazette, aiming to improve the regulatory framework for virtual asset activities and respond to the stability of legal currency pegs. potential risks posed by currencies to ensure transparency and consumer protection are guaranteed.

The Stablecoin Bill imposes strict licensing and compliance requirements. While it may help stabilize the system, it cannot be denied that it may also exclude smaller or emerging market players. Whether startups will face difficulties due to high audit fees, strict governance requirements and capital adequacy requirements is a balance point that the Hong Kong government must carefully weigh between innovation and safety in the future.

The first photovoltaic entity asset RWA exceeds 200 million yuan

On December 23, 2024, the Fund News reported that Ant Digital joined hands with the green energy service provider GCL Energy , successfully completed the first project based on photovoltaic physical assetsRWA, involving an amount exceeding 200 million yuan. Hong Kong Victory Securities also participated.

Ant Digital is Ant Digital Technology, which is an independent section of Ant Group’s technology commercialization , will begin independent operations in April 2024. Up to now, Ant Digital has worked with more than 300 partners to serve more than 10,000 enterprise customers. GCL Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of GCL (Group) Holdings Co., Ltd., and its main business is digital energy business and clean energy business. Currently, its subsidiaries have 225 energy experts, 192 software copyrights, 324 patents accepted, and 3 key R&D projects.

GCL Nengke will use approximately 82MW of "Xin Yangguang" household photovoltaics located in Hubei and Hunan provinces as RWA anchor assets. Through blockchain technology and IoT (Internet of Things) technology is integrated to package and store the value, operation, income and other data of household photovoltaic projects on the blockchain to form a digital certificate. On the day the issuance was completed, Ant Digital and GCL Nengke signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Suzhou. The two parties will carry out comprehensive cooperation in new power system construction, green finance, artificial intelligence and other aspects in distributed photovoltaic power stations, energy storage power stations, comprehensive energy services and other scenarios, and continue to explore integration paths for digital industrialization and industrial digitization.

For more details, please refer to: Ant Digital and GCL Nengke completed the RWA issuance of photovoltaic physical assets of over 200 million yuan

Hong Kong’s first short-term asset Support liquid bill token STBL

Institutions from all walks of life in Hong Kong have also begun RWA attempts. On December 16, 2024, Cinda International Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Cinda International Asset Management") announced the successful issuance of the short-term asset-backed liquidity note token STBL arranged by it on the Ethereum blockchain. It became the first case in which a financial institution in Hong Kong arranged the issuance of transferable tokenized packaged and restructured notes.

Cinda International Asset Management will serve as the manager of STBL. NVT will provide blockchain operation services for STBL’s blockchain agent and provide STBL with services in the region. Provide technical support solutions for the issuance of blockchain. GF Securities (Hong Kong) Brokerage Co., Ltd. and HashKey Exchange serve as the first distributors of STBL.

Through the tokenization of bills, the issuance and transfer of STBL do not need to rely on the third party.The issuance and transfer of third-party intermediaries such as clearing houses are automatically recorded on the blockchain in real time, and anyone can view and verify the transfer records on the blockchain, thus improving transparency. Each STBL has a face value of US$1 and maintains a stable value. Daily accumulated interest will be automatically distributed to the wallets of professional investors in the form of newly issued tokens on the monthly dividend date. The STBL manager (Cinda International Asset Management) will publish the average daily return of its related assets in the previous week and the underlying MMFs on the public website every week.

At the same time, Cinda International Asset Management and HashKey Group are also exploring the possibility of further in-depth cooperation and plan to expand STBL issuance to the Ethereum Layer 2 network HashKey Chain. Continue to expand STBL's investor base.

Looking forward to 2025

Looking back to 2024, Hong Kong has laid a more solid foundation in the field of virtual assets. From virtual asset trading platforms to spot ETFs to the booming rise of RWA, the potential of compliance and innovation is constantly being demonstrated in the Hong Kong financial market.

Looking forward to 2025, with the gradual acceptance of "old money" in the market, Hong Kong is expected to accelerate the in-depth integration of virtual assets and traditional finance. Especially with the development of stablecoins and RWA, as long as Hong Kong finds the right balance between ensuring security and promoting innovation, Hong Kong will surely usher in its own golden moment in the global virtual asset market.