Hong Kong Grants Licenses to Four More Crypto Exchanges
The post Hong Kong Grants Licenses to Four More Crypto Exchanges appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Hong Kong grants licenses to four more crypto exchanges, aiming to become a global crypto hub with efficient licensing processes. Hong Kong is taking significant steps to establish itself as a global crypto hub by granting licenses to four more crypto exchanges. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) approved licenses for Accumulus, HKbitEX, DFX Labs, and EX.IO. These licenses came after on-site inspections when the exchanges responded to the regulator. Before that, licenses were granted to OSL, HashKey, and HKVAX. It shows that Hong Kong is actively working towards establishing a regulated market for crypto firms. The licensing process that is used by the SFC is very efficient. On the 12th June 2023, Hong Kong officially commenced the licensing of VATPs which are involved in virtual asset trading. This new framework permits licensed exchanges to provide retail trading services. A fast and efficient process is also a priority of the SFC because global cities compete to become leaders in the cryptocurrency market. Therefore, the SFC has been directly approaching the senior management of VATPs to explain the respective regulatory standards. Hong Kong Pushes to Become Crypto Hub with New Licenses Additional information regarding the licensing process was published in the recent circular by the SFC. Currently, the exchanges require compliance evaluations of their platform policies, procedures, and controls. These evaluations have to be certified by a certified public accountant. Following this, the SFC coordinates a second-phase evaluation with VATPs and outside evaluators. After satisfactory completion of the assessment, limitations to the business scope are lifted, and exchanges can take place. On the other hand, Hong Kong’s lawmaker Ng Kit-chuang has suggested that Hong Kong should invest its fiscal reserves in cryptocurrencies. Based on this, Ng recommended the government deploy the Exchange Fund to make investments in virtual commodities. Such a…
