City Hong Kong Financial News

Hong Kong — officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China — is a city of over seven million residents on the eastern Pearl River Delta in South China. The city is known for being pro-innovation and technology, and over the past year, it has introduced legislation to promote and adopt cryptocurrencies.

China's perspective on web3 has come to light through a recently released white paper that suggests China is open to incorporating web3 into its future internet.

Momentum in crypto markets shows no sign of slowing down, as Hong Kong Inu ($HONG) explodes +50,000% in earth-shattering pump dawning a return to February's Chinese narrative.

Hong Kong's financial regulator finally implemented its new regulatory framework for crypto on the first of June.

British multinational bank Standard Chartered and PwC China have teamed up to produce a white paper on applications for central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the so-called Greater Bay Area of China – Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao. Programmability will make all the difference, they concluded.

First Digital Group, a Hong Kong-based qualified custodian and trust company, announced the launch of its First Digital USD (FDUSD) United States dollar-pegged stablecoin on June 1. The new stablecoin is programmable and described as being capable of executing contracts, escrow services and insurance without intermediaries. It will operate on the BNB Smart Chain.

The 2023 crypto cycle has been dominated by eye-catching crypto narratives garnering immense traction - sending low-cap altcoins surging. 

Hong Kong has decided to let retail investors trade cryptocurrency under its new regulatory regime because «virtual assets are going to stay», the city's minister overseeing financial services said Tuesday.Cryptocurrencies have been banned in mainland China since 2021, but the former British colony, which has a separate financial system and regulators, has announced plans to become a major digital asset hub. From June 1, authorities will begin accepting applications for licences from cryptocurrency exchanges that will allow them to sell major tokens including bitcoin and ether to individual traders. «Despite the potential risks involved, (virtual assets) also carries with it fundamental value,» Christopher Hui, Hong Kong's secretary for financial services and the treasury, told AFP in an interview.

In this week’s newsletter, read about some of the most popular nonfungible token (NFT) collections and top metaverse properties taking massive price hits in 2023. Check out how the Hong Kong Police Force launched its own metaverse platform, and how Reddit’s digital collectibles have managed to onboard almost 10 million users to the crypto and NFT space. In other news, infamous crypto hater Peter Schiff has launched his own NFT collection on Bitcoin Ordinals. 

Huobi has become the first member of the Hong Kong Virtual Assets Consortium (HKVAC), the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange announced on May 31. The new organization promises to provide a ratings service and indexes when it is fully launched.

On May 31, Tether (USDT) tokens issued on the Tron blockchain reached another all-time high of $46 billion, compared to $36.8 billion for Ethereum, accounting for over 60% of USDT’s circulating supply. The milestone comes on the fifth-anniversary launch of the Tron mainnet.

Both Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have strengthened ties after their respective central banks (CBUAE) and monetary authorities (HKMA) agreed to join forces on crypto regulation earlier this week.

A Trust Reserve stablecoin team was detained by police in China on May 29, according to PANews. 

The Chinese government continues to crack down on the cryptocurrency industry with a new investigation targeting a major Chinese yuan stablecoin issuer.

Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) central banks are looking to collaborate on cryptocurrency regulations and financial technology development.

“Adversary nations” like China could ultimately benefit from restrictive crypto policies in the United States, warns Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. 

Crypto exchange Huobi is moving forward with its Hong Kong expansion plans. 

Hong Kong’s ambition to become a crypto hub may not be sustainable, according to a Chinese crypto veteran whose digital asset business in China was overturned by a regulatory crackdown. 

The race to snatch up Hong Kong retail crypto traders is about to kick off, with several cryptocurrency companies announcing plans to apply for a license come June 1.

Last week, almost all the key markets for digital assets in Asia got updates from local regulators. Lawmakers in Japan have decided to enforce stricter Anti-Money Laundering measures to trace cryptocurrency transactions from June 1. 

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.__________