With its partial autonomy, the island city of Hong Kong has traditionally served as “a gate to China” — the local trade center, backed by transparent English-style common law and an openly pro-business government strategy. Could the harbor, home to seven million inhabitants, inherit this role in relation to the crypto industry, becoming a proxy for mainland China’s experiments with crypto? An impulse to such questioning was given by Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of crypto derivatives giant BitMEX in his Oct. 26 blog post. Hayes believes the Hong Kong government’s announcement about introducing a bill to regulate crypto to …

Just days after Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao warned about the onset of greater regulatory scrutiny amid the FTX collapse, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong called for a stronger focus on transparency and proper supervision when dealing with virtual assets. Financial Secretary Paul Chan highlighted the importance of being “steady and cautious” when promoting the development of the virtual asset industry in Hong Kong. A poster accompanying Chan’s post, roughly translated to: “While actively embracing innovation, there must be a regulatory package that adapts and keeps pace with the times to properly manage risks, create prerequisites for the orderly …

The nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace for American video game retailer GameStop has officially gone live on Ethereum (ETH) layer 2 blockchain ImmutableX, all part of the latest Web3 push from the gaming retailer. The pair first partnered in February to build the marketplace offering a $100 million grant for NFT content creators and tech developers before a public beta of the NFT marketplace debuted in July. With the Oct. 31 announcement of the full launch, GameStop’s market will allow for popular Web3 games on ImmutableX such as the role-playing game Illuvium and Gods Unchained to be accessed by users. Gamestop …

The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong has set up requirements for entities considering a public offering of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to cryptocurrency futures. In an Oct. 31 circular, the SFC said that in addition to previously imposed requirements on unit trusts and mutual funds for authorization of a crypto futures ETF, management companies in Hong Kong would need to “have a good track record of regulatory compliance” as well as three years of experience managing ETFs, with consideration for similar investment vehicles. The financial regulator hinted it would follow in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s footsteps by …

Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of crypto derivatives giant BitMEX, believes the next crypto bull run will start when China moves back into the market, and Hong Kong has a vital part to play in this process. In his Oct. 26 blog post titled "Comeback", Hayes outlined why he thinks the Hong Kong government's announcement about introducing a bill to regulate crypto is a sign China is trying to ease its way back into the market. This could be because Hong Kong acts as “the proxy through which China interacts with the world." “When China loves crypto, the bull market …

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has released the full details of its mBridge pilot project to use central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for foreign exchange. Commercial banks in four jurisdictions made cross-border transfers using CBDCs and distributed ledger (blockchain) technology in the project, which was heralded as a success. Twenty commercial banks in Hong Kong, China, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand used the custom-made mBridge Ledger platform and CBDCs issued by their respective central banks to conduct payment and foreign exchange payment-versus-payment transactions on behalf of their corporate clients between August 15 and September 23. Over $12 million …

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the United Nations Climate Change Global Innovation Hub presented the results of their “Genesis 2.0” initiative. The project aims to explore the use of blockchain, smart contracts and the internet of things (IoT) for a global environment cause. The project resulted in two prototypes of tokenized green bonds, developed by two separate international teams, which are “de facto verified carbon credits” recognized by either international, national or other verification mechanisms. As specified in the press release from Oct. 24, both prototypes of “green bonds” are developed using blockchain …

No matter how much attention the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or Commodity Futures Trading Commission gets in the crypto industry, for individual traders and investors, it often comes down to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) position — and how much tax one owes. Last week, the IRS last week released a draft bill featuring a well-defined digital assets section that outlines if and how taxpayers will account for the use of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Page 16 of the draft defines digital assets as any digital representations of the value recorded on a “cryptographically secured …

Bitcoin (BTC) waited for cues at the Oct. 24 Wall Street open as expectations of a breakout ran high. Hang Seng drops most since 2008 Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a mundane trading day for BTC/USD after the pair hit weekly highs of $19,700 overnight. Despite what Michaël van de Poppe, CEO and founder of trading firm Eight, called “way worse than expected” manufacturing data from the United States, Bitcoin suffered from declining trajectory on the day. This led on-chain analytics resource Material Indicators to suspect that resistance would remain in place. “Sunday BTC failed all attempts …

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority presented its completed Aurum retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) prototype on Oct. 21. The system, developed in conjunction with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, has a unique structure that reflects the intricacies of the existing system for issuing money in Hong Kong. Aurum consists of a wholesale interbank system and retail e-wallet. The e-wallet is created at a local bank and has a smartphone interface. A validator system prevents bank over-issuance and user double redemption. The intermediated retail CBDC is used in the e-wallets, and CBDC-backed stablecoins are used in the …

Hong Kong is taking action to regain its status as a global cryptocurrency hub by launching several legal initiatives related to the crypto industry. A city and special administrative region of China, Hong Kong is willing to distinguish its crypto regulation approach from the blanket crypto ban in mainland China. The government of Hong Kong is considering introducing its own bill to regulate crypto in its own China-free way, according to Elizabeth Wong, head of the fintech unit at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). One of the SFC’s initiatives is allowing retail investors to “directly invest into virtual assets,” …

A multi-jurisdictional Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot has been marked “successful” by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) after a month-long test phase that facilitated $22 million worth of real-value cross-border transactions. The central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took part in the pilot program along with 20 commercial banks from those regions. More than $12 million worth of value was issued onto the test platform, which facilitated 164 foreign exchange transactions and cross-border payments between the participating firms totaling over $22 million worth of value according to a Tuesday LinkedIn post …