Hong Kong Securities Association is Considering an ‘ICO’ Issuance Mechanism
The Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association, an influential industry trade group, has proposed the establishment of an initial coin offering (ICO) portal in the city.
The suggestion was included in the group’s comments on the Hong Kong’s budget for 2024-25, addressed to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po and Deputy Financial Secretary Wong Wai-lun.
The proposed ICO portal in Hong Kong would serve as a platform for conducting regulatory-compliant token offerings.
By creating a controlled environment, authorities can mitigate risks associated with fraudulent ICOs while providing opportunities for legitimate projects to access funding.
With a potential bull market on the horizon, industry stakeholders, including the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association, believe that revisiting ICOs within a regulated framework could unlock new opportunities for both investors and projects.
While the specifics of the proposed ICO portal are yet to be determined, its potential launch would offer a regulated avenue for token issuers to raise funds and investors to participate in promising blockchain projects.
ICOs emerged as a fundraising method in 2015, following Ethereum’s launch, and gained significant popularity.
However, the ICO landscape faced setbacks due to numerous scams and violations of securities regulations. Hong Kong, once a thriving hub for ICO listings, witnessed regulatory measures to delist many tokens.
While security token offerings (STOs), compliant ICOs that emerged later, failed to attract substantial investor interest in Asia, the industry landscape has since evolved.
The JPEX scandal, regarded as potentially the largest financial fraud in Hong Kong‘s history,
