On December 17, 2024 , BTC hit a record high at $108,365. From less than $50,000 at the beginning of the year to a price that doubled, BTC led the field of virtual assets and gained a firm foothold on the world stage.
In the past year, Hong Kong has made full preparations for the integration of "old money"; each segment has delivered its own results.
– 7 virtual asset trading platforms were approved for No. 1, No. 7 and AMLO licenses;
– 6 virtual asset spot ETFs listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange;
– 31 securities firms were upgraded to the No. 1 virtual asset license;
– 36 asset managers were upgraded to No. 9 virtual asset license;
– The RWA track that has attracted much attention, the Hong Kong government issued more than 6 billion yuan of multi-currency digital green bonds, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Ensemble Sandbox, Stablecoin Sandbox, Ant Digital and GCL Energy Technology jointly issued more than 200 million yuan of photovoltaic physical assets RWA etc.
However, it cannot be denied that the crypto asset side of Hong Kong’s primary market and the capital side of the secondary market have not yet fully ushered in the dawn, and they urgently need to be accelerated and resolved in the future. On the crypto-asset side of the primary market, the Hong Kong virtual asset trading platform is extremely strict in screening crypto-assets. Although the high threshold ensures market compliance and stability, it also sets great obstacles for the entry of emerging assets. In terms of the secondary market capital side, Mainland China has not yet opened due to policy restrictions, and the secondary market capital side has to be open to local Hong Kong and overseas users; while user resources in overseas markets have already been seized by platforms such as Binance, OKX and Coinbase, making transfers extremely difficult .
How to find a balance between ensuring market security and promoting high-quality projects and asset-side innovation to attract the inflow of "old money" that has not yet been involved? This is the core issue in the Hong Kong market in 2025.
This issue of Bailu Living Room leads readers to comprehensively review the development of Hong Kong's virtual asset market in 2024, and jointly explore new opportunities in 2025 from the trends.
01. 7 virtual asset trading platforms
As of January 11, 2025, there are 7 virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong that have received formal approval from the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission to carry out virtual asset business in compliance with regulations in Hong Kong. 
7 licensed virtual asset trading platforms
OSL and Hashkey continue to lead the way
On April 19, 2024, OSL Group (00863) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary and digital asset trading platform OSL Digital Securities Co., Ltd., which holds a license issued by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, became the first company approved based on the "Combatting Money Laundering and Terrorism" A virtual asset platform licensed under the Capital Raising Ordinance (AMLO). In May, Hashkey Exchange followed suit and became one of the first fully licensed virtual asset service providers in Hong Kong. The two leading companies still maintain their advantage on the compliance route.
From a business perspective, Hashkey Exchange launched HashKey Pro, an institutional-level comprehensive service, integrating virtual asset trading capabilities for Zhongan Bank, Victory Securities and other institutions, with a cumulative transaction volume of more than HK$5 billion. As of November 2024, HashKey Exchange's asset management scale exceeds HK$10 billion, and its cumulative transaction volume reaches HK$580 billion. OSL's business is widely deployed in virtual asset spot ETFs and RWA.
HKVAX comes from behind
On October 4, 2024, according to the official website of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, the Hong Kong Virtual Asset Exchange (hereinafter referred to as HKVAX) was officially approved by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission and issued Type 1 (securities trading) and Type 7 (providing automated trading services) licenses. At the same time, in accordance with the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO), the "Operation of Virtual Asset Trading Platform" license was issued. HKVAX becomes the third regulated virtual asset platform in Hong Kong.
For more information, please refer to: HKVAX was officially awarded a license and became the third licensed virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong 
From left to right: So Shu Fai, Chairman of the International Clean Energy Forum (Macau), Carlos Costa Pina, Chairman of Fórum Oceano, Mauricio Marques, Founder and CEO of Yacooba Labs, and Ng Wai Leong, Co-Founder and CEO of HKVAX
HKVAX focuses on security tokens (STO) and real asset tokenization (RWA) services. On October 18, 2024, HKVAX signed a memorandum of understanding on the blue economy security token project with Fórum Oceano and Yacooba Labs to cooperate on high-quality security token projects related to the European blue economy, covering tokenization, distribution , listing, trading and token custody, etc. On November 29, 2024, HKVAX reached a strategic partnership with Alibaba Cloud, focusing on technical infrastructure, security framework construction, as well as STO and RWA services. Whether HKVAX, which focuses on RWA, can successfully find its own business niche will continue to be watched by the market.
4 institutions were approved simultaneously in December
According to the official website of the Securities and Futures Commission, on December 18, 2024, HKbitEX, Accumulus, DFX Labs, and EX.IO were approved by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission on the same day and issued Type 1 (securities trading) and Type 7 (providing automated trading services) licenses , and issued a license to "operate a virtual asset trading platform" in accordance with the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO).
HKbitEX was launched by Hong Kong Digital Asset Exchange Group Co., Ltd., and the parent company behind it is Taiji Capital Group. It includes three major services: capital market and wealth management, digital asset exchange, and Web3 SaaS and technology research and development. Gao Han, the founder of Taiji Capital, once worked for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and was mainly responsible for promoting Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s products in the mainland, including Southbound Trading and Bond Connect.
Accumulus is backed by China's Fortune 500 and launched by Cloud Account Greater Bay Area Technology (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. Cloud Account Hong Kong is registered by Cloud Account and is also the only overseas business headquarters. The group has obtained an overseas direct investment quota of RMB 985 million approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and others in the mainland. According to the official introduction, Cloud Account is China's largest online human resources service company, which has served a total of 110 million new employment form workers (freelance workers) from 138 countries and regions. This year, it was selected with a revenue of 108.4 billion yuan. It is one of the "Top 500 Chinese Enterprises in 2024".
DFX Labs was the last applicant for Hong Kong’s virtual asset trading platform last year, launched by DFX Labs Company Limited. The team of DFX Labs is already experienced in the fields of blockchain and financial technology. Chief Operating Officer Simon Au Yeung was formerly CEO of Blockchain Finance and virtual asset trading platform BGE, and co-chairman of Hong Kong IEEE; Chief Technology Officer David H. once worked at Morgan Stanley Well-known institutions such as Stanley, Dell Technologies and HashKey Group.
EX.IO is launched by Thousand Whales Technology (BVI) Limited. Major investors in EX.IO include Huasheng Capital Group, an Internet brokerage owned by Sina, as well as Longling Capital, Weixin Jinke Investment, etc. EX.IO, originally named xWhale, was established after the original Web3 trading platform BusyWhale and Huasheng Securities reached a strategic agreement in May last year.
SFC Circular on "Licensing Process and Enhanced Stage 2 Assessment"
Also on December 18, 2024, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission issued the "Circular to Virtual Asset Trading Platforms – Licensing Procedures and Optimized Second Phase Assessment", providing clarity to the 11 institutions still waiting in line for license applications. roadmap guidance; in early 2025, the Securities and Futures Commission will establish a formal advisory group for all licensed platforms, and each licensed institution will appoint its senior personnel to serve as representatives, so that the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission can fully listen to and consider the institutional views, and systematically Prioritize development matters based on investor protection. In the new year, more outstanding teams will surely join the ranks of virtual asset trading platforms, driving the market to continue to grow.
Applicants for 11 virtual asset trading platforms still waiting in line for licensing
02. Virtual asset spot ETF
The listing of the US Bitcoin spot ETF took nearly 10 years; in contrast, the rapid listing of the Hong Kong virtual asset spot ETF has become a great highlight of Hong Kong's determination.
On April 15, 2024, Hong Kong approved in principle the spot ETFs of Bitcoin and Ethereum; on April 24, the Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETF and the Ethereum spot ETF were officially approved; on April 30, China Hong Kong, Boshi International and Harvest International's six virtual asset spot ETFs have been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and are open for trading.
For an overview of each participant, please refer to: Approval will be approved as soon as next Monday! A glance at the strength of the 7 Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETF planners
Unlike the United States, Hong Kong virtual asset spot ETFs support physical redemptions, allowing investors to redeem ETF shares by delivering physical virtual assets instead of just trading in cash. Physical redemption means the underlying asset does not have to be sold immediately, resulting in cost and liquidity advantages. After the physical purchase and redemption process is completed, investors will be able to directly obtain virtual assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum corresponding to the spot ETF fund, and their investment options will be more diversified.
As of January 11, Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETF and Ethereum spot ETF data collected by SoSoValue
On the first day of trading, the Hong Kong spot virtual asset ETF raised approximately HK$2 billion, with a calculated net asset value of US$293 million. The total first-day trading volume of the six ETFs was approximately HK$87.58 million (approximately US$12.7 million).
As of January 7, 2025, according to data from the Hong Kong Exchange, the total trading volume of Hong Kong's three Bitcoin spot ETFs in 2024 reached HK$5.257 billion; in terms of market volume, the US$129 billion Bitcoin ETF The asset management scale accounts for 1.2% of its ETF market, while the same data in Hong Kong is 0.66%. There is no order of magnitude difference between the two proportions. Since its listing, the Hong Kong Bitcoin Spot ETF has had a net inflow of approximately 380 BTC, and its total asset management scale has increased by approximately 66%.
In 2025, under the influence of the US-led world structure, the impact of Hong Kong virtual asset ETFs on the local financial market will increasingly not be ignored. Tools like ETFs have the opportunity to encourage more traditional institutions to truly embrace virtual assets; only when "old money" pours in will the liquidity of Hong Kong's virtual asset market undergo a qualitative change.
03. A large influx of securities firms and asset managers
The implementation of ETF only represents the completeness of the tools; the enthusiasm of securities firms and asset managers to enter the market reflects the trend of "old money embracing" in the Hong Kong market.
Tiger Brokers entered the market with a high profile
On May 6, 2024, according to Yahoo Finance, Tiger Brokers (Hong Kong) officially launched virtual asset trading services; professional investors in Hong Kong can trade 18 virtual assets in one stop through Tiger Trade, the investment platform of Tiger Brokers.
On January 25, 2024, Tiger Brokers announced that it had obtained the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission’s upgrade of its Type 1 license conditions, allowing professional investors to trade virtual assets on the SFC-licensed platform through Tiger Brokers. On March 28, 2024, Tiger Brokers (Hong Kong) obtained a Type 9 license approved by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to provide asset management services. It can provide investors with a series of asset management services, including segregated account services for retail and professional investors. , as well as managing collective investment schemes for professional investors, among others.
On May 6, 2024, Tiger Brokers (Hong Kong) officially launched virtual asset trading services, becoming the first technology brokerage in Hong Kong to support one-stop transaction management of traditional securities and virtual assets. At the beginning of the service launch, virtual asset trading commissions were as low as 0.2% of the transaction volume, and custody fees were waived. The competitiveness of the rates reflects Tiger Brokers’ firm execution ability to seize a place in the virtual asset market.
For more details, please refer to: Tiger Brokers launches virtual asset trading service in Hong Kong and officially enters Web3
Victory Securities maintains first-mover advantage
Victory Securities, a local securities company in Hong Kong, is a pioneer in the field of virtual assets; thanks to its complete compliance licenses, Victory Securities has always maintained a leading position in business.
On April 23, 2024, Victory Securities announced that it would become the only participating securities firm to accept physical subscriptions among the first batch of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong; on October 15, 2024, Victory Securities announced that on October 10, 2024 After successfully passing the relevant regulatory inquiry procedures, you can launch and manage the Victory VSG virtual asset multi-strategy fund, and the first Web3 multi-strategy fund launched by a virtual asset investment organizer company licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to accept investors to subscribe for fund units with stable currencies. Strategic Compliance Fund; On November 4, 2024, Victory Securities announced that it had obtained permission from the Securities Regulatory Commission to sell cash-settled virtual asset structured products to qualified professional investors, becoming the first licensed securities firm in Hong Kong to be approved for this business. .
No matter what heights Victory Securities can eventually reach in the field of virtual assets, they have used their own experience to prove that the compliance route is always a race against time. The sooner they embrace regulation, the more opportunities they will have to seize the opportunity in the market. .
31 securities firms and 36 asset managers are also ready
Tiger Brokers and Victory Securities are representatives of securities firms that remain active in the market and attract a lot of attention; in fact, a large number of traditional and new institutions have been awarded virtual asset-related licenses and are ready to flex their muscles.
Judging from the number of securities firms, as of January 11, 2025, 31 securities firms have been approved to complete the upgrade of virtual asset No. 1 license and can provide virtual asset trading services through comprehensive account arrangements.
According to the official website of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, 31 securities firms have been approved to provide virtual asset trading services through integrated account arrangements.
From the perspective of the number of asset management companies, there are only 11 asset management institutions that have been approved to upgrade to the virtual asset license No. 9 in early 2024 and can manage investment portfolios that invest more than 10% in virtual assets; as of January 11, 2025, there are only 11 asset management institutions with the same compliance status. The number of qualified asset management institutions has increased to 36.
According to the official website of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, 36 asset management institutions have been approved to manage investment portfolios that invest more than 10% in virtual assets.
With the implementation of the virtual asset license, Hong Kong's financial institutions are preparing for the rapid development of RWA in 2025. From securities firms to asset management, traditional and emerging institutions have established a dual foundation of compliance and technology; on this basis, more and more “old money” have fully opened their doors to enter the market. Hong Kong’s financial ecosystem is ready to sprint forward in this wave.
04. RWA, the focus of the next stage of development
Breaking the barrier between the virtual world and the real world and allowing assets and funds to flow freely between the two systems is a major trend in the world and the focus of Hong Kong's next stage of development.
The reason why RWA is important is that, on the one hand, it uses blockchain technology to improve transparency and security and solve problems existing in the traditional financial system; on the other hand, if the market pays, it can fundamentally activate more physical assets and attract A wider range of small and medium-sized investors have entered the market, thereby injecting more liquidity into the development of real industries and the digital economy.
The Hong Kong government takes the lead in selling the second batch of digital green bonds
On February 7, 2024, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China announced that it had successfully sold digital green bonds denominated in Hong Kong dollars, RMB, US dollars and euros with a total value of approximately HK$6 billion under the government green bond program, becoming the world's first batch of multi-digit green bonds. Currency digital bonds.
In 2021, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Hong Kong Center under the Innovation Hub of the Bank for International Settlements completed Project Genesis to trial the issuance of tokenized green bonds in Hong Kong. This issuance is further developed on the basis of this project. According to official information from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, new breakthroughs have been made in four aspects: expanding investor participation, streamlining issuance procedures, introducing standardized elements, and integrating disclosure into digital asset platforms. .
As the world's first multi-currency digital bonds, the settlement and settlement of this batch of digital green bonds uses the CMU system and HSBC Orion as the digital asset platform. HSBC, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Credit Agricole, Goldman Sachs, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia), UBS, Allen & Overy, Ashurst, and Linklaters all participated in the preparations for the issuance .
Hong Kong Monetary Authority Ensemble Sandbox to promote tokenized applications
On March 7, 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the launch of a new wholesale-level central bank digital currency (wCBDC) project "Ensemble". The Hong Kong Monetary Authority stated that the project will initially focus on tokenized deposits, which are issued and provided to the public by commercial banks. digital form of commercial bank deposits.
On August 28, 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority held a launch ceremony for the Ensemble project sandbox and announced that the first phase of the sandbox trial will cover the tokenization of traditional financial assets and real-world assets, and focus on four major themes: fixed income and investment funds , liquidity management, green and sustainable finance, and trade and supply chain finance. Through the trial, the HKMA will verify the technical interoperability between tokenized assets, tokenized deposits and wCBDC, and will also allow industry participants to conduct end-to-end testing of tokenized asset transactions in actual business scenarios.
Mr Yue Wai-man, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, delivered an opening speech at the launch ceremony of the Ensemble Project Sandbox
According to official information from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, members of the Ensemble project architecture working group include Bank of China (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank, Hashkey Group, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Ant Digital Technology, Microsoft (Hong Kong) and other well-known financial and technology companies. At the international level, the HKMA will explore cooperation opportunities with the Hong Kong Center under the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub on one or more tokenization topics, and work with members of the CBDC expert panel to promote the development of the sandbox.
Stablecoin Sandbox and the Stablecoin Bill
As the cornerstone of RWA, stablecoins are also the focus of development. As early as January 2022, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released a discussion document on extending Hong Kong’s regulatory framework to stable currencies, inviting industry parties to discuss and clarifying the initial direction of the regulatory framework. In January 2023, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released a consultation summary on discussions on cryptoassets and stablecoins, setting out the expected regulatory scope and main regulatory requirements.
In March 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the launch of a "sandbox" for stablecoin issuers, allowing testing of stablecoin issuance within the regulatory sandbox. On July 18, 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released the list of stablecoin sandbox participants: JD.com, Yuanbi, and Standard Chartered became official participants. The main application scenarios proposed include payment, supply chain management, and capital market use cases, as well as secondary Web3, games, virtual asset transactions, etc.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority stated that current fund transfers in these scenarios may involve financial institutions, payment service companies, settlement systems, etc. in different time zones. These "middlemen" or financial infrastructure do not operate 24/7, and are quite expensive and inefficient. Low level pain points. Stablecoins can not only play the role of a transaction medium, reduce costs and transaction time, but also use their programmable features to develop a variety of innovative solutions, automate and intelligentize financial service processes, and facilitate capital flows. Various risks associated with trading can be managed more accurately.
For more details, please refer to: JD.com, Yuanbi, and Slag enter the game. Who will win in the Hong Kong Stablecoin "Sandbox"?
On December 6, 2024, the Hong Kong government published the Stablecoin Bill in the Gazette, aiming to improve the regulatory framework for virtual asset activities, respond to the potential risks posed by fiat currency-linked stablecoins, and ensure that transparency and consumer protection are protected.
The Stablecoin Bill imposes strict licensing and compliance requirements. While it may help stabilize the system, it cannot be denied that it may also exclude smaller or emerging market players. Whether startups will face difficulties due to high audit fees, strict governance requirements and capital adequacy requirements is a balance point that the Hong Kong government must carefully weigh between innovation and safety in the future.
China’s first photovoltaic entity asset RWA exceeding RMB 200 million
On December 23, 2024, China Fund News reported that Ant Digital and green energy service provider GCL Energy successfully completed the first RWA in China based on photovoltaic physical assets, involving an amount of more than 200 million yuan. Hong Kong Victory Securities also participated.
Ant Digital, or Ant Digital Technology, is an independent section of Ant Group's technology commercialization and will begin independent operations in April 2024. Up to now, Ant Digital has worked with more than 300 partners to serve more than 10,000 corporate customers. GCL Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of GCL (Group) Holdings Co., Ltd., and its main business is digital energy business and clean energy business. Currently, its subsidiaries have 225 energy experts, 192 software copyrights, 324 patents accepted by their subsidiaries, and participated in 3 national key R&D projects.
GCL Nengke uses approximately 82MW of "Xin Yangguang" household photovoltaics located in Hubei and Hunan provinces as RWA anchor assets. Through the integration of blockchain technology and IoT (Internet of Things) technology, the value of the household photovoltaic projects, Operation, income and other data are packaged and stored on the blockchain to form a digital certificate. On the day the issuance was completed, Ant Digital and GCL Nengke signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Suzhou. The two parties will carry out comprehensive cooperation in new power system construction, green finance, artificial intelligence and other aspects in scenarios such as decentralized photovoltaic power stations, energy storage power stations, and comprehensive energy services, and continue to explore integration paths for digital industrialization and industrial digitization.
For more details, please refer to: Ant Digital and GCL Nengke completed the RWA issuance of photovoltaic physical assets of over 200 million yuan
Hong Kong’s first short-term asset-backed liquidity note token STBL
Organizations from all walks of life in Hong Kong have also started trying RWA. On December 16, 2024, Cinda International Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Cinda International Asset Management") announced the successful issuance of the short-term asset-backed liquidity note token STBL arranged by it on the Ethereum blockchain. It became the first case in which a financial institution in Hong Kong arranged the issuance of transferable tokenized packaged and restructured notes.
Cinda International Asset Management will serve as the manager of STBL, and NVT will provide blockchain operation services for STBL's blockchain agents and provide technical support solutions for STBL's issuance on the blockchain. GF Securities (Hong Kong) Brokerage Co., Ltd. and HashKey Exchange serve as the first distributors of STBL.
Through the tokenization of bills, the issuance and transfer of STBL do not need to rely on third-party intermediaries such as clearing houses. Its issuance and transfer are automatically recorded on the blockchain in real time, and anyone can view and verify the transfer record on the blockchain. thereby increasing transparency. Each STBL has a face value of US$1 and maintains a stable value. Daily accumulated interest will be automatically distributed to the wallets of professional investors in the form of newly issued tokens on the monthly dividend payment date. The STBL manager (Cinda International Asset Management) will publish the average daily return of its related assets in the previous week and the underlying MMFs on the public website every week.
At the same time, Cinda International Asset Management and HashKey Group are also exploring the possibility of in-depth cooperation in the future, and plan to expand the issuance of STBL to the Ethereum Layer 2 network HashKey Chain to continue to expand the investor base of STBL.
05. Looking forward to 2025
Looking back on 2024, Hong Kong has laid a more solid foundation in the field of virtual assets. From virtual asset trading platforms to spot ETFs to the booming rise of RWA, the potential of compliance and innovation is constantly being demonstrated in the Hong Kong financial market.
Looking forward to 2025, with the gradual acceptance of "old money" in the market, Hong Kong is expected to accelerate the in-depth integration of virtual assets and traditional finance. Especially with the development of stablecoins and RWA, as long as Hong Kong finds the right balance between ensuring security and promoting innovation, Hong Kong will surely usher in its own golden moment in the global virtual asset market.
