The government will work to introduce licensing bills for stablecoins and over-the-counter cryptocurrency trading frameworks once consultations progress, a Hong Kong finance official said today.
Christopher Hoey, Minister for Financial Services and Treasury, said in a… Written response To a lawmaker in the Legislature that the FSTB, earlier this month, A public consultation has been launched On legislative proposals to introduce a licensing system for OTC cryptocurrency trading service providers. The consultation is scheduled to end on April 12.
In December, the Financial Stability Bank and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the de facto central bank, jointly announced the deal. Consultation launched – Until February 29 – regarding the regulation of stablecoin issuers. They proposed that all issuers of fiat-backed stablecoins obtain a license from the Capital Markets Authority.
“Subject to the results of the consultations and progress in the preparatory work, the government will submit draft laws on the above-mentioned licensing systems to the Legislative Council as soon as practicable,” Hui said.
Increased concern about crime
Meanwhile, Hui noted in the written response that the Securities and Futures Commission has busted an increasing number of cryptocurrency-related crime cases in recent years. Hong Kong saw a total of 3,415 cryptocurrency-related criminal cases last year, up from 2,336 cases in 2022 and 1,397 cases in 2021, according to Hui. The amount of money involved in these cases rose to nearly HK$4.4 billion (US$562.6 million) last year, up from HK$1.7 billion in 2022 and HK$824 million in 2021.
As Hong Kong makes efforts to become a cryptocurrency hub, regulators are taking an aggressive approach in phasing out what they see as bad actors. For example, authorities Cryptocurrency exchange JPEX busted Hui added that last year, 70 people associated with the platform were arrested as of February 20 without any trial having begun yet.
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