By George Ward
Various reports suggested that Hong Kong would adopt China’s cryptocurrency mining and trading ban. However, Hong Kong authorities are reconsidering that decision.
As Hong Kong makes efforts to explore the crypto industry, it plans to launch itself as a digital assets hub for investment in digital assets. Hence, it is set to host a finance event which will start on Monday.
The event has been tagged as “FinTech Week 2022”. It will be a series of policy statements about cryptocurrency adoption in the city.
Some prominent Hong Kong officials have also been working hard to see greater adoption of crypto trading. Previously, only those with a net worth of $1 million were eligible to trade crypto. However, the country wants that to change soon.
Last week, the director of licensing and head of the fintech unit of the Securities and Future Communications (SFC), Elizabeth Wong, notified investors that Hong Kong would create its policies on digital assets. However, she further explained that the country would not expressly adopt the initial crypto ban.
Wong also noted that the country could approve ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) for various crypto assets. Nevertheless. The Hang Seng Index (Hong Kong’s benchmark equity market index) fell 35% this year, aligning with the global inflation surge and interest rate hikes.
Asset managers and crypto investments
Although the crypto market’s capitalization fell 56% this year, institutional investors such as financial institutions worldwide ain’t reducing their investment in the crypto sector.
BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, announced in August that it would proceed with the establishment of a spot Bitcoin trust for the benefit of its institutional clients in the United States.
In July, Britain’s banking giant, Barclays, invested in Copper, a crypto custody service. Earlier this year, Fidelity Investments, a well-known provider of 401(k) retirement plans in the United States, began allowing its users to invest parts of their assets in Bitcoin.
In a recent development, Fidelity also announced that it would start to provide Ethereum trading to its institutional clients, such as investment firms.