Regulating Crypto Businesses In Hong Kong.
2021-02-15 | Robin Williams
![Regulating Crypto Businesses In Hong Kong.]()
Cryptocurrency businesses within
Hong Kong are trying to
keep off against a forthcoming law
that might restrict legal crypto trading to professional investors, locking out 93% of the native population from the market.
Within comments to South China, Morning Post
revealed on 15th Feb., industry body Global Digital Finance warned that the proposed law would be likely to push retail traders to embrace unregulated platforms. Global Digital Finance represents crypto exchanges
like BitMEX, Huobi, Coinbase, and OKCoin, and has been at the forefront of industry efforts to
keep off against the upcoming legislation.
Hong Kong's Financial Services
and therefore the Treasury Bureau primarily published the proposal earlier in Nov. last year, as
a part of a bid to toughen AML and counterterrorist financing measures. The move aligns with efforts to bring domestic regulations into line with recommendations from the FATF.
Yet the Bureau's proposal exceeds
the wants of the FATF's framework, echoing instead the tough stance towards crypto trading in
China. The chair
of worldwide Digital Finance's advisory council, Malcolm Wright, has
acknowledged that FATF members Singapore, the UK,
and the U.S. all
still allow retail traders
to require part
within the crypto market.
Throughout January,
the govt has been consulting with both members of
the general public and industry bodies. Now that the consultation period has come to
an in-depth, the proposal
is predicted to become
a bill and introduced to Hong Kong's legislature later within the year. South China Morning Post's estimate that 93% of the domestic population would be
suffering from the ban
is predicated on a recent CitiBank survey that found that roughly 7% - 504k individuals - had enough assets
to satisfy the edge for professional investors.
A representative from the Bitcoin Association of
Hong Kong has recently argued that “to restrict retail individuals from accessing Bitcoin would be overshooting the government’s goals of promoting innovation, and financial inclusion.” The proposed restrictions could also
reach Bitcoin
cash machine machines, or ATMs,
and can also significantly
expand the remit of Hong Kong's existing
cryptocurrency licensing rules for businesses.
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