Web3 entrepreneurs, institutional investors, and protocol developers from around the world are waiting to enter, not to attend yet another blockchain "summit," but to witness the self-iteration of an established financial center.
Consensus, a top global crypto conference that was previously only held in the United States, landed in Hong Kong for the second year. At nine in the morning, the image of John Lee appeared on the big screen. There was no lengthy welcome speech; the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region directly presented a timeline in this pre-recorded speech: The first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses will be issued next month.
This is not a routine statement. In the past six months, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority received 36 license applications, and the screening logic is exceptionally clear—priority to bank-led applications, priority to sandbox performance, and priority to real-world application scenarios. Just a few hours after John Lee's speech, the Securities and Futures Commission issued three circulars in a row, unblocking virtual asset margin trading, perpetual contracts, and market-making systems on the same day. The dense release of policy signals on this day has been referred to by traders present as the "fill-in-the-blank" of Hong Kong's crypto regulation— the framework has already been laid out, and now substantial content is beginning to be filled in.
1. March Licensing: Not a Starting Point, but a Watershed
● On August 1, 2025, the "Stablecoin Regulation" will come into effect. Hong Kong will become one of the few jurisdictions in the world to establish a dedicated licensing system for fiat-backed stablecoins. However, the implementation of the law is just the first step; the real challenge lies in who obtains the first batch of licenses and what they will do afterwards.
John Lee clearly set expectations in his speech: The Monetary Authority has entered the final stage of processing licenses, and results will be available in March.
● This timeline is earlier than what the industry expected. By the end of 2025, the market generally speculated that the first round of licenses would have to wait until the second quarter of 2026. Now that the progress has been expedited, it is a result of the 36 applications compelling the approval efficiency, as well as the urgency for Hong Kong to respond to the global regulatory race—EU MiCA has fully come into effect, and countries such as Singapore and the UAE are accelerating the improvement of stablecoin frameworks.
Who is most likely to win? Several industry insiders interviewed by the Securities Times provided similar judgments: Local bank institutions hold a clear advantage.
● The reasons are not complicated. The three core indicators repeatedly tested by the Monetary Authority during the sandbox phase—100% high liquidity reserve assets, independent third-party custody, and clearly viable payment scenarios—each point to institutional-level capabilities. Bank applicants naturally have barriers in anti-money laundering compliance systems, capital adequacy ratios, and fiat custody experience, which are precisely the priorities under the regulatory "prudent advancement" principle.
● However, this does not mean the exclusion of native crypto institutions. Insiders revealed that some tech-financial alliances deeply tied to banks have also entered the final evaluation list. The intention of the regulatory authorities is clear: The license is not a shield but a business permit. Obtaining a license means entering the compliant track, but whether one can successfully execute a business model is another matter.
2. Liquidity Thirst: The Securities and Futures Commission's Three Moves
Issuing stablecoin licenses addresses the issue of "value anchoring," but to make funds truly flow, institutional deregulation is needed on the trading level. On the same afternoon, the Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Ashley Alder, appeared in a media event, publishing three circulars with three new measures implemented on the same day.
First Move: Virtual Asset Margin Financing.
● This has been interpreted by the market as the "lifting of leverage restrictions." Previously, licensed virtual asset platforms in Hong Kong only supported full payment transactions, preventing investors from utilizing existing positions for margin reinvestment. The new regulations allow licensed brokers to provide virtual asset financing services to securities margin clients, with collateral being Bitcoin or Ethereum—initially limited to these two types.
● The logic parallels traditional securities: if you have stocks, you can mortgage for financing; if you have Bitcoin, you can too. The difference lies in the higher volatility of virtual assets, thus requiring stricter risk control—sufficient collateral, robust investor protection measures, and focused risk limits, all of which are essential.
Second Move: Perpetual Contracts Opened to Professional Investors.
● Perpetual contracts are the most concentrated products in the crypto derivatives market liquidity and were previously in a gray area in Hong Kong. The new regulations provide a clear framework for licensed platforms: they can introduce virtual asset leveraged products to professional investors, but must establish a comprehensive internal risk management mechanism, including valuation models, margin collection standards, liquidation trigger lines, and insurance fund governance.
● This is a "principle-based" regulatory experiment. The Securities and Futures Commission did not set a predetermined leverage cap but required platforms to demonstrate the effectiveness of their risk controls. Return the professional judgment power to market participants and anchor the accountability chain on governance structures—this regulatory philosophy has been successfully practiced in traditional finance and is now translated into the digital asset track.
Third Move: Market Maker System on the Table.
● Lack of liquidity is the core pain point troubling licensed platforms in Hong Kong. Without active market makers, trade spreads are too wide for institutional clients to execute large transactions. The new regulations permit affiliated market makers to operate on licensed platforms, provided they establish strict mechanisms for conflict of interest separation, data security measures, and rules prioritizing client instructions.
● This means that platforms can introduce professional market makers in a compliant manner, narrowing spreads and enhancing depth. For institutional investors accustomed to overseas full-function trading environments, this is a signal that "they can participate."
3. The Hong Kong Path: Isolate Arbitrage, Leave Infrastructure
● At the Consensus conference, a frequently mentioned term was "institutionalization." The crypto industry in 2026 is no longer enamored with grassroots narratives; global regulatory frameworks are rapidly taking shape, compliance costs are sharply rising, and arbitrage space is narrowing. Hong Kong's chosen position in this race is: to become the standard setter connecting traditional finance with digital assets.
● This is not an empty statement. Liang Hanjing from the Hong Kong Invest Hong Kong department made it clear in an interview prior to the conference that the core principle of Hong Kong's regulation is "same business, same risk, same rules." The subtext of this statement is: no privileged class is created, only a fair playing field is provided.
● Unlike Singapore's DTC sandbox model and Dubai's free zone experiments, Hong Kong chooses to directly embed digital asset regulation into the existing financial legal system. Stablecoin issuer licenses are approved by the Monetary Authority—this is the currency authority; virtual asset trading platforms are licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission—this is the securities regulator; custodial institutions must comply with capital and internal control requirements on par with traditional asset custodians.
The cost of this framework is: the speed of innovation may not be as fast as in regulatory vacuum zones. But its benefit is: once a Hong Kong license is obtained, it equates to gaining credit endorsement from the mainstream financial system.
● This is the fundamental reason why Consensus chose Hong Kong for the second consecutive year. Conference chairman Liu Dehao stated in an interview with Yicai that Hong Kong is not only the gateway to the Chinese market but also the only hub in Asia that can simultaneously connect European and American regulatory standards, Middle Eastern capital, and middle-class retail investors. As global regulation shifts from decentralization to convergence, the compliance experience accumulated by pioneers becomes a scarce asset.
4. Mainland China and Hong Kong: Buffer Zone and Testing Ground
● While Hong Kong accelerates licensing, the mainland's strict regulation of virtual currencies has not wavered. The People's Bank of China and several industry associations have reiterated multiple times that stablecoins do not effectively meet anti-money laundering, customer identification, and other requirements, and related businesses are still defined as illegal financial activities.
● This "strict versus lenient" pattern may constitute an arbitrage space in the eyes of some market observers. However, several experts interviewed by the Securities Times provided another interpretation: This is not an arbitrage channel but a system trial under risk isolation.
● Yu Jianing, co-chair of the Blockchain Special Committee of the China Communications Industry Association, believes that the mainland's comprehensive control objectively cuts off the path for domestic risks to transmit to Hong Kong, providing a buffer for innovation in Hong Kong; the compliance stablecoin exploration in Hong Kong reserves technological experience for the cross-border application of the digital yuan. Senior researcher at HashKey Group, Sun Wei, further pointed out that the mainland's stringent exit policies filtered out low-quality players for Hong Kong, clarifying the boundary between "compliant stablecoins" and "pseudo-stablecoins."
● This complementary relationship has never been officially confirmed in policy statements, but a tacit understanding has been formed at the business level. Hong Kong issues Hong Kong dollar stablecoins, with reserve assets held in local banks; mainland institutions participate in cross-border trade settlement tests, with the transaction chain being fully auditable. The two tracks run parallel, and the intersection is not at the level of fund flow but at the level of technical standards and governance experience.
5. From Consensus to Action
John Lee concluded his speech with a sentence: "Hong Kong will continue to work hard to stay at the forefront of this key transformation in finance and technology."
● Three years ago, this sentence was more of a vision statement. Over the past three years, Hong Kong has completed the entire process of legislation, sandboxes, license applications, and product expansion. On February 11, 2026, as the first batch of stablecoin licenses entered the countdown to March and perpetual contracts and margin trading were unblocked on the same day, this city's Web3 narrative has accomplished a shift from "can it be done" to "how to do it."
● Outside the conference, a stablecoin application institution that received preliminary approval is setting up a booth. The staff did not display gifts, only a screen showing real-time test data for cross-border payment settlement. A few Middle Eastern investors watching nearby asked in detail: Which bank holds the reserve assets? What is the peak daily processing volume? Is there a possibility of cooperating with sovereign funds?
● This is not a typical project roadshow at a summit. This is the pre-due diligence for infrastructure procurement. The theme of Consensus 2026 is "Web3 and Blockchain Accelerating the Application of a New Era." For Hong Kong, this new era no longer requires more declarations. March licensing is the moment for submitting the exam paper.
Join our community, discuss together, and get stronger together!
Official Telegram community: https://t.me/aicoincn
AiCoin Chinese Twitter: https://x.com/AiCoinzh
OKX Benefits Group: https://aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=l61eM4owQ
Binance Benefits Group: https://aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=ynr7d1P6Z
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
