Hong Kong Financial Secretary: Embracing the development of digital assets, approves eight applications for virtual asset trading platform licenses

Speaking at a forum event on June 21, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, Paul Chan, said that there has been a lot of interest in digital assets in the market recently, especially the issuance of stablecoins, which has aroused heated discussions. As an international financial center, Hong Kong must continue to reform and innovate to continuously enhance our competitive advantage. We embrace the development of digital assets and have accelerated the improvement of relevant legal and regulatory frameworks in recent years. For example, the licensing system for virtual asset trading platforms has issued 10 licenses and is in the process of approving another eight applications. We have also just completed the legislative work on stablecoins, which will come into effect on August 1, making Hong Kong one of the first jurisdictions in the world to establish a statutory regulatory framework for stablecoins.