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ARTICLE · 30 MARCH 2020

Virtual Assets In Hong Kong – An Evolving Regulatory Approach

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In the Financial Secretary's 2020 – 2021 budget speech, the Hong Kong Government announced that it will consider extending the anti-money laundering/counter terrorist financing requirements to cover crypto currency service providers.

Hong KongTechnology
Daniel Tang
Daniel Tang
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In the Financial Secretary's 2020 – 2021 budget speech, the Hong Kong Government announced that it will consider extending the anti-money laundering/counter terrorist financing requirements to cover crypto currency service providers. This marks the latest move of the city's regulation of cryptocurrencies, which have been classified as virtual assets and have been primarily regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong ("SFC").

Initially, virtual assets only came within the SFC's regulatory regime if their terms of issuance resembled those of "securities", or their trading fell within the confines of "futures contracts". Started in November 2018, the SFC extended its oversight of virtual assets and their service providers by tackling the management and distribution of virtual assets. This is followed by its position paper in November 2019 which sets out a new regulatory framework for virtual asset trading platforms ("VA Platforms"). The

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