City Hong Kong Financial News

Julia Leung, the CEO of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has acknowledged Bitcoin’s staying powerin the face of market fluctuations.

SINGAPORE — Customers in Asia-Pacific have picked their favorite banks as lenders scramble to meet consumer expectations in a fast-changing environment.

Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Shuo has voiced criticism against Hong Kong’s cryptocurrency licensing system, citing its impact on market confidence.

The two FS giants worked with Standard Chartered-owned Hong Kong digital bank Mox and asset tokenisation tech firm Libeara on the PoC, which took place on the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Fintech Supervisory Sandbox. It saw the first live test of the Mastercard Multi-Token Network (MTN) used for a test scenario where a Mox client wants to buy a carbon credit to offset personal carbon usage and deposit the funds for this in their bank account. In the pilot, Mox requests Standard Chartered tokenise the desired carbon credit using Libeara. Then, through the Mastercard MTN, the client’s deposit is also tokenised and an atomic swap is initiated between the two instruments. The result is a transparent, real-time transaction between Standard Chartered and Mox, with the end client receiving access to a tokenised version of their carbon credit. This can be held in a digital wallet, or used to offset their carbon footprint. Mary Huen, CEO, Hong Kong, Standard Chartered, says: "The tokenisation of real-world assets and the potential use of different forms of tokenized currency is integral to the future of the financial industry."

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has announced that it will be conducting on-site inspections of local virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs) that have not yet completed their regulatory applications after the licensing deadline of June 1.

Shares are mixed in Asia after U.S. markets were closed for the Memorial Day holiday

Hong Kong: During President Vladimir Putin's visit to China in mid-May, he said Russia and China are «jointly committed to promoting the establishment of a more democratic multipolar world order». To countries that do consider themselves democratic, Putin's notion was laughable, for both China and Russia are ruled tightly by autocratic rulers who have no intention of losing their grip on power. In fact, Professor Steve Tsang, Director of the SOAS China Institute at SOAS University of London, told ANI, «The biggest challenge China faces in governance terms is the concentration of power in Xi's hands.»

Gold prices were steady on Tuesday, as investors maintained a cautious stance ahead of key U.S. inflation data, which could provide more insight into the Federal Reserve's policy trajectory. FUNDAMENTALS

India has recorded a trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports, with nine of its top 10 trading partners, including China, Russia, Singapore, and Korea, in 2023-24, according to official data. The data also showed that the deficit with China, Russia, Korea, and Hong Kong increased in the last fiscal compared to 2022-23, while the trade gap with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Indonesia, and Iraq narrowed. The trade deficit with China rose to USD 85 billion, Russia to USD 57.2 billion, Korea to USD 14.71 billion and Hong Kong to USD 12.2 billion in 2023-24 against USD 83.2 billion, USD 43 billion, USD 14.57 billion and USD 8.38 billion, respectively, in 2022-23. China has emerged as India's largest trading partner with USD 118.4 billion of two-way commerce in 2023-24, edging past the US.

Hong Kong is considering allowing staking for exchange-traded funds investing directly in Ether, potentially unlocking a source of passive income that has been removed from prospective US issuers' plans. The Securities and Futures Commission has held discussions with the city's crypto ETF issuers about providing staking services via licensed platforms, after fielding proposals in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

FSSAI has also advised that all activities related to the commercialisation of human milk and its products should be stopped.In an advisory dated May 24, titled ‘Advisory on Unauthorized commercialization of human milk and its products’, the FSSAI said that it is in “receipt of representations from various registered societies regarding commercialization of human milk and its products".It added that the FSSAI “has not permitted the processing and / or selling of human milk under FSS Act, 2006 and rules/regulations made there under."“Therefore, it is advised that all such activities related to the commercialization of human milk and its products should be immediately stopped.

foreign portfolio investors (FIIs) have remained unenthusiastic in May so far, off-loading Indian equities worth Rs 22,046 crore. In 2024 year-to-date, FPIs have off-loaded stocks worth Rs 19,824 crore. They carried on the trends in May from April in which FPIs sold shares worth Rs 8,671 crore even as the domestic institutional investors have displayed keenness on remaining in the buying side.

Crypto exchange OKX announced on Friday that it has withdrawn its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license application in Hong Kong and will cease to provide trading services to residents.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is considering allowing issuers of Ethereum ETFs to offer Ether staking, according to a Thursday Bloomberg report.

Bitcoin (BTC) is currently navigating resistance around $70,000. Starting the week bullish, BTC peaked at $71,957, gaining 13% over the past seven days. The rise was driven by inflows into Bitcoin spot ETFs and optimism for Ethereum spot ETF approval by the SEC.

Gate.io’s Hong Kong entity, Gate.HK, is winding down its operations. It has also withdrawn its application for a crypto trading platform license in the region.

Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog on Wednesday instructed OpenAI founder Sam Altman’s Worldcoin project to halt all activities in the region. This includes scanning and collecting iris and facial images from the public using iris-scanning devices.

Hong Kong’s leader says his government will keep monitoring for any non-compliance with a court order that bans a popular protest song

Hong Kong police arrested on Tuesday three individuals linked  to a fraud syndicate that allegedly defrauded at least 10 residents out of HK$5.1 million (US$653,900) through fake virtual investment talk tickets.

In charts: India’s spices exports raise a stink abroad Certain Everest and MDH products were recently found to have violated rules around ethylene oxide residue in Singapore and Hong Kong, resulting in recalls and bans of specific batches of their products in these markets. Hong Kong completely prohibits ethylene oxide in food products, while Singapore has a limit of 50 parts per million. The European Union's limit is even lower, ranging from 0.02 to 0.1 mg per kilo.

The Hong Kong Institute for International Finance (HKIIF) Chairman Xiao Geng recently highlighted the potential benefits of a CNY-pegged stablecoin for Hong Kong during an event.