Two coded currency received licenses to work in Hong Kong, on the occasion of the first organizational approvals for the year 2025, as the city continues to pay it to give the official character to the virtual asset trading sector.
According to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Committee (SFC) Official databaseCrypto Exchange Panthertrade and YAX were granted operational licenses on January 27 under the Money Funding and Combating Terrorism Financing Act (AMLO), up to the total number of licensed platforms to nine.
Approvals come approximately a week after the Executive Director of the Ministry of Middle Disturbed SFC was looking to issue more licenses during the first quarter of 2025.
At that time, Yi, who is also head of the country’s advisory group, said that the committee was evaluating 11 applicants from approximately 30 companies applied, among them only those who meet the strict requirements of the regulator, a license will be granted.
On June 1, 2024, Hong Kong has officially concluded its allowance for encryption exchanges to apply for a virtual asset service provider license (VASP).
After that deadline, any platform without a case “considering it licensed” from SFC is illegal.
A few days before the pieces, SFC announced plans to intensify enforcement, including conducting the site inspections to ensure properly protection of customer money and compliance with regulatory standards.
YE confirmed that SFC has completed the site inspections for almost all applicants and informed the applicants of all the requirements they have to fill completely.
In August, Invezz stated that the regulator found that some of these platforms do not properly manage cybersecurity and warned that it may lead to the abolition of its temporary licenses.
Several prominent platforms such as OKX and HTX withdrew their requests after failing to comply with the applicable states.
Last month, Hong Kong SFC released licenses for Accumulus GBA, DFX Labs, Hong Kong Digital Asset Exia and Addies when technology.
Although a license is obtained, the exchange of encryption in Hong Kong is only allowed by offering a handful of cryptocurrencies.
Currently, the local population has only access to Bitcoin (BTC), ETHEREUM (ETH), Avalanche (Avax) and Chainlink (Link).
The demand for encryption in Hong Kong
The recent developments come amid signs of increasing appetite for encryption in Hong Kong.
A recent survey conducted by the company Futu Securities for the company Hong Kong has highlighted that young investors prefer to own Bitcoin over real estate.
Moreover, on January 13, the Hong Kong Ming Shing company revealed a subsidiary of LEAD Benefit, and has allocated $ 47 million to invest in Bitcoin.
In November, ZA, the largest virtual bank in the city, provided services that allowed retail users to trade bitcoin and ether using the dollar in Hong Kong.
There were also calls to create a strategic bitcoin reserve.
As I mentioned earlier by INVEZ, a member of the Legislative Council called for the creation of Bitcoin backed by the use of the unique Hong Kong site under one country, two systems.
He said:
If it is noticed that the United States continues to increase Bitcoin’s possessions, the Hong Kong government must carefully consider obtaining a proportional amount of bitcoin in its reserves.
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