The market is still cold, and Hong Kong, which has been overlooked for a long time, has also attracted new attention.

On February 8, Hong Kong practicing accountant clementsiu disclosed on social media that the Hong Kong Investment and Promotion Agency approved a certificate of Ethereum as a HK$30 million asset For the investment immigration application, it also stated that in October last year, it also successfully handled the first investment immigration case in Hong Kong with Bitcoin as an asset proof.

At first glance, it sounds ordinary, but for crypto holders, especially large Chinese holders, the threshold for overseas immigration is still significantly lowered, after all, 30 million Hong Kong dollars are not a huge wealth in the crypto circle that the rich are eager to do, and going to Hong Kong is a natural direction for Chinese people.

But is investment immigration so simple? Is Hong Kong really an crypto-utopia? Different people also have different answers in their hearts.

In fact, whether cryptocurrency is included or not, investment immigration is affiliated with the new capital investor entry plan proposed by the Hong Kong government in 2023 (" CIES”). The program is open to qualified investors and further strengthens Hong Kong's position as an international asset and wealth management center through the introduction of external investors and capital.

Under the plan, eligible investors are allowed to invest HK$30 million in Hong Kong After the assets are obtained, you can obtain a stay visa. After living there for 7 years, you will have the opportunity to apply for permanent resident status in Hong Kong. The plan is not complicated, but when it comes to practical operation, there are still many details that need to be paid attention to.

First, the applicant must hire a Hong Kong professional accountant at his own expense to issue a capital verification certificate with his net assets of HK$30 million. At this step, the location of the asset is not subject to restrictions. The composition of assets is not limited. It is only necessary to prove that within the entire period of 6 months before the applicant submits the application date for the net asset review, he or she absolutely has net assets or net capital with a market value of no less than HK$30 million. It is worth noting that It is true that the deadline was originally two years, and the Hong Kong government further optimized to 6 months later.

Of course there is not enough assets. The ultimate goal of the Hong Kong government is to allow assets to flow into Hong Kong. Within 6 months before submission of the application, or within 6 months after approval, applicants are required to invest no less than HK$30 million in the designated authorized investment asset category. The Hong Kong government has made considerable statements about the investmentable targetsConfirm regulations:

Eligible investors must invest HK$27 million in the scope of financial assets (all types are traded in HK$/RMB), subdivided Including listed companies' stocks, debt securities, certificates of deposit, and post-serving bonds of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; eligible collective investment plans, including funds, real estate trusts, open-end funds and life insurance plans issued by institutions licensed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. ; Private limited partnership funds registered in Hong Kong; non-residential real estate for commercial or industrial purposes (including property but not land), but the maximum investment amount is HK$10 million.

The remaining 3 million Hong Kong dollars is equivalent to the mandatory target, and it needs to invest in the "Capital Investor Entry Plan Investment Portfolio" established by Hong Kong Investment Management Co., Ltd., which investment The portfolio will invest in Hong Kong-related companies or projects to support the innovation and technology industry and other key industries that will help Hong Kong's economy develop in the long term. The specific operation is to deposit HK$3 million in the designated account of the financial intermediary, which is managed by four fund management companies and related service institutions, including Betatron Venture Group, Inno Angel Fund, Concept Capital and Huike Science and Technology Investment. To put it bluntly, this 3 million Hong Kong dollars is equivalent to contributing to Hong Kong angel investment. Everyone will naturally be happy if they make a profit. If they lose money, there is nothing to say.

After completing the above investment, the Hong Kong Immigration Department will issue a 2-year stay visa, which will require a subsequent renewal. The renewal is generally in the form of 3+3, but each year All applicants need to hire a professional accountant to verify the capital verification report, which proves that the total investment is still not less than HK$30 million, and the assets are not transferred or used for other purposes, but the total investment has nothing to do with previous investment losses. Even if the investment is lost, the existing investment will be The amount does not reach HK$30 million, you only need to prove that the investment scale at the time of application reaches HK$30 million, and there is no need to invest additional investment, and the interest or other profits of the investment profit can be freely disposal. After living there for 7 years, you can replace it with a permanent resident in Hong Kong. At that time, the investment amount will no longer be restricted and applicants can also be free to distribute it.

The overall process is as above, and the participation of this cryptocurrency is concentrated in the first capital verification stage, that is, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum can also be used as assets. It is determined that crypto assets can be placed in cold wallets or proof of head transactions such as Binance. It is worth noting that although existing Bitcoin and Ethereum have been recognized, whether other cryptocurrencies can be used for this proof cannot be generalized. Just in terms of the current situation, the currency value is relatively stable, the circulation is large, and legal in Hong Kong. The currency can only be applied.

In addition, can the subsequent investment of HK$30 million be invested in virtualMonetary ETFs are still to be discussed. According to Xiao Yaohe, deputy management partner of Hongyuan Accounting Firm Co., Ltd., the possibility is relatively small, but it can be tried to purchase by opening a limited partnership fund. Whether it can be directly invested needs to be subsequently verified.

In fact, from the perspective of asset proof only, in the United States, Singapore and other places, there have been precedents for asset proof, but for cryptocurrencies holding For those who are interested in, the most difficult thing is never to take out money, but where does the money come from? When using cryptocurrency as proof of assets, relevant institutions and accountants will require clients to submit proof of funding sources.

Proof usually involves the original source of funds for purchasing cryptocurrencies and the places and low points for purchasing crypto assets. It is obvious that there are big ups and downs for cryptocurrencies. The above questions are undoubtedly extremely difficult to answer in the field of anonymity. And this is the real difficulty of crypto asset immigration. The historical burden is heavy, and holders must leave traces to solve it.

In any case, the first use of cryptocurrency by Hong Kong investment immigrants not only reflects Hong Kong's high openness, but also once again confirms the Hong Kong government's attitude towards cryptocurrency inclusiveness. , it still has certain attractiveness to the Chinese currency circle, and the increase in cryptocurrency usage scenarios can further enhance Hong Kong's position in the crypto field. In the long run, it will form agglomeration effect from the two major directions of talent and capital, and promote the vigorous development of Hong Kong's Web3 industry. .

Looking at Hong Kong's plans in recent years, in addition to new capital immigration, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has successively issued a number of measures to attract foreign talents to Hong Kong, It includes optimizing existing talent entry plans such as the Talent Program and the newly launched Talent Program, diversifying the recruitment of talents, and enriching Hong Kong's talent pool. The reason for launch is also very simple. There are too many people in Hong Kong. Before 2022, Hong Kong's permanent population declined for five consecutive years, from 7.365 million in 2019 to 7.224 million in 2022, and the departure data was even more obvious. From July 2020 to June 2023, it left the airport via the airport. There were 6.33 million Hong Kong residents in Hong Kong, of which only 5.8 million returned to Hong Kong. In other words, Hong Kong's net departures in three years reached 530,000, accounting for almost 7% of the permanent population.

From the current perspective, the introduction plan has achieved remarkable results. According to the summary of the Hong Kong Immigration Department, In 24 years, nearly 140,000 visas for entry programs for various types of talents have been successfully approved, an increase of 4,000 from 23 years. As of January 2, from "New Capital Investors"Since the launch of the Entry Program, Hong Kong has successfully received more than 750 applications, with an estimated total investment of more than HK$22 billion, but unfortunately, only 2 applicants are involved in the use of crypto assets at this stage. In addition, the macro contraction in recent years Against the backdrop, Hong Kong's local economy has also been hit. According to the Xinbao report, Hong Kong's retail sales in December last year were 32.8 billion yuan, down 9.7% year-on-year, down 10 consecutive months. The report also mentioned that cryptocurrencies are young. Class popularity has become one of the external pillars of Hong Kong's consumer market.

Under various realistic backgrounds, Hong Kong's attention to the Web3 field has increased instead of decreasing, and only from Last year, Hong Kong's window characteristics are becoming increasingly prominent, taking into account supervision and inclusiveness in the direction of virtual assets, showing a situation of perfection and ecological support, and making significant progress in product innovation, platform licensing, and extension of regulatory frameworks.

From the product side, in 2024, Hong Kong approved 6 Hong Kong virtual asset spot ETFs issued by three fund companies, Huaxia Fund (Hong Kong), Bose International and Jiashishi International, and extremely Dadi has improved the convenience of investors to purchase and promoted the compliance and productization of virtual assets. As of now, the total number of Bitcoin spot ETFs held by three Bitcoin spot ETFs has reached 4,330, and the total net asset value has reached US$425 million. Ethereum spot ETF holds 2,083 Ethereum coins, with a net asset value of US$56 million.

From the exchange, the new virtual asset regulations have been implemented for one and a half years, so far , Hong Kong has approved virtual asset trading platforms, more than 31 brokerage firms have obtained the upgrade of virtual asset number 1 license plate, and more than 36 asset management firms have obtained the upgrade of virtual asset number 9 license plate. In the highly-watched Payfi field, Hong Kong Financial Management The Bureau not only launched the Ensemble project to explore RWA and CBDC, but also continues to extend from platforms to derivative institutions on the regulatory side, and continuously improves regulatory regulations. Recently, the relevant bill committee of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong reviewed the "Stablecoin Bill" for the first time. If no exception is the The bill will come into effect this year, successfully regulating stablecoin licensees with the same business, the same risks and the same rules, so that stablecoin can be inquired. Last year, Hong Kong even launched a stablecoin issuer sandbox to continue to promote The system access of traditional finance and Web3. The next step in the regulation will be in the direction of OTC and custody. It is expected to complete the second round of public consultation on over-the-counter trading (OTC) supervision this year, and launch virtual asset custody service providers to issue licenses Institutional consultation plan.

The environment conducive to the development of Web3 is being consolidated, but if it is from the market Looking at it, in the context of limited market size and high cost,After all, Hong Kong will find it difficult to become the source of global Web3 development, and its influence on the global crypto market is almost tiny. This can be seen from the virtual asset ETF, which is more than one order of magnitude different from the net assets of Bitcoin ETFs of more than US$111.78 billion. Even for this immigration, some crypto practitioners said that the price is high and the cost-effectiveness is not high. "It is better to go to Singapore or Australia than to go to Hong Kong for 30 million Hong Kong dollars. The golden visa for Dubai is only 4.24 million Hong Kong dollars."

But it has been mentioned before that Hong Kong is not planning to grab share from the crypto market, but rather trying to build a new decentralized financial system based on traditional finance to fill virtual assets The gap is to stabilize the positioning of traditional financial centers and to connect with the future digital asset trading era from innovation. This is also the reason why Hong Kong is currently developing virtual asset trading platforms with licenses and focusing on the stablecoins and RWA fields.

It's the same old saying that although Hong Kong is not the most active region in crypto, "small and big markets" also mean security and stability, and from the perspective of traditional capital Angle, safety is far more important than other factors.