At the Hong Kong FinTech Week 2025 event, Ms. Ashley Liang, Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), shared her insights on the regulatory concepts behind integrating Hong Kong's digital asset ecosystem with global liquidity. She also elaborated on several upcoming initiatives aimed at enhancing the digital asset regulatory framework to build a trustworthy, globally competitive, and sustainable ecosystem.
An Important Step Towards Global Liquidity Connectivity
In the discussion, Ms. Liang first outlined the development trajectory of Hong Kong's digital asset regulatory system over the past few years: starting from an initial focus on investor protection and a closed-loop ecosystem centered around licensed virtual asset trading platforms, it has gradually evolved into a crucial phase of connecting the local market with global liquidity, aimed at addressing the current challenges of dispersed liquidity in the global digital asset market.
Ms. Liang announced that the SFC issued a circular on the same day, allowing licensed virtual asset trading platforms to share global order books with their overseas affiliated virtual asset trading platforms. As the first step of Pillar A (Access) in the SFC's ASPIRe roadmap, this liquidity connectivity will enable local investors to more effectively utilize global market liquidity, enhance the market price discovery process, and achieve more competitive pricing. The new initiative will also attract more institutional trading, promoting market depth and efficiency in Hong Kong. In the future, she anticipates more measures will be introduced to facilitate brokers' integration with global liquidity.
Precise Regulatory Balance and Hong Kong's Advantages
Regarding how to achieve regulatory balance, Ms. Liang pointed out that overly stringent regulation could drive liquidity and talent to jurisdictions with more lenient regulations, while inadequate regulation could undermine market confidence and stability.
Ms. Liang stated that unlike Hong Kong's current model of pre-funding and real-time settlement, the SFC's new policy will allow licensed virtual asset trading platforms to connect to overseas liquidity through affiliated platforms, while implementing multiple safeguards to reduce settlement and integrity risks. For example, it will require overseas virtual asset trading platforms to implement a delivery versus payment (DvP) arrangement and pre-funding requirements, establish a reserve fund in Hong Kong for compensation purposes, and implement a joint monitoring program to strike an appropriate balance between convenience and protection.
She emphasized that Hong Kong's regulatory system is known for its visibility and transparency, providing clarity, certainty, and consistency to the market, thereby enhancing the confidence of market participants and supporting sustainable market development. The SFC has taken the lead in adopting the principle of "same business, same risks, same rules," actively participating in the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to develop regulatory principles for central digital asset platforms, promoting the adoption of similar standards in regulatory frameworks, including the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. These coordinations help strengthen connections and interoperability between markets.
Completing the Regulatory Puzzle for Digital Assets
Ms. Liang announced that the SFC issued a second circular on the same day, announcing several new measures to expand the range of products and services that licensed virtual asset trading platforms can offer. Among them, stablecoins licensed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and tokens for professional investors will be exempt from the 12-month track record requirement. The SFC will also explicitly allow licensed virtual asset trading platforms to distribute products related to digital assets and tokenized securities, and affiliated entities of the platforms may provide custody services for digital assets or tokenized securities not traded on those platforms.
Regarding the two joint consultations recently released by the SFC and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, Ms. Liang noted that the public generally supports the proposed regulatory framework for virtual asset trading service providers and custodians. The SFC plans to extend the licensing scope for virtual asset service providers to cover virtual asset investment advice and asset management services and is currently consulting with the government. In terms of virtual asset custody services, the SFC will focus on licensed institutions' management of private key risks and anticipates issuing licenses only to the most robust and reliable institutions to ensure the safety of the industry ecosystem.
Effectiveness Indicators for Building a Trustworthy and Sustainable Ecosystem
As a regulator, Ms. Liang emphasized that the SFC's original intention for regulating traditional capital markets and digital asset markets remains consistent, thus the regulatory principles applicable to the former are equally relevant to the latter.
She stressed that the key to building a sustainable digital asset ecosystem lies in enhancing the robustness of financial infrastructure for clearing and settlement using blockchain technology. Additionally, the scalability and sustainable development of the digital asset market are also indicators of success. A vibrant digital asset market requires a diverse range of products and services to attract different types of investors and needs active market makers to provide liquidity. Furthermore, achieving standard interoperability and harmonization both within Hong Kong and across borders is crucial.
The Future of Digital Finance
Looking ahead, Ms. Liang pointed out that the rise of a new generation of investors is driving the rapid adoption of digital assets, a trend that brings growth opportunities while highlighting the importance of enhancing investor education and awareness of new risks.
Finally, she reiterated that the SFC has been actively involved in developing global regulatory standards, committed to promoting consistency among markets. She also acknowledged the contributions of all industry participants, including traditional financial institutions, native crypto asset entities, and Web3 technology experts, working together to position Hong Kong at the forefront of the ever-changing digital finance landscape.
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