For practitioners who have grown up immersed in crypto and blockchain culture, they are accustomed to a life driven by code and community. However, today's Hong Kong compliant crypto industry is driven by policies, fundamentally creating two different ecosystems. Yet, many practitioners are not yet prepared to switch perspectives and positions between these different ecosystems.
The Hong Kong-style crypto industry is experiencing the growing pains of a policy-driven forced integration. This pain not only involves the friction between policies and systems but also more deeply touches on the conflict and reconciliation between traditional financial culture, internet financial culture, and native crypto culture.
Opportunities: Is Someone Making a Fortune Quietly?
At the birth of a new system, there are often opportunities for early participants to "make a fortune quietly". They get the first share in cross-industry developments.
For example, when Tether was first born, it increased its trading volume 100-fold in a year, with annual trading volume exceeding $10 billion in 2017, $1 trillion in 2020, and over $10 trillion in 2024. Similarly, when Binance was first established, its daily trading volume exceeded $100 million in the first two months, $1 billion in the fourth month, and $5 billion in the sixth month.
Of course, Hong Kong currently has no companies growing this rapidly, but this doesn't mean no companies are benefiting from the first wave of dividends.
"Recently, traditional financial institutions contact us every day, wanting to discuss crypto business. We're also trying to promote new businesses on platforms like Youtube and X, and collaborate with influential KOLs and bloggers," said a Hong Kong securities firm practitioner involved in crypto business.
"With Hong Kong embracing crypto, over a hundred Web3 companies have settled here. Consulting on policies, applying for various licenses, and exploring different businesses require legal consultation, which provides substantial business demand for law firms focusing on crypto compliance," said a crypto practitioner familiar with law firms.
"Every Web3 company looking to develop long-term in Hong Kong will apply for a Hong Kong company bank account, generating many transactions, which brings considerable business to banks that early on valued this sector, such as ZA Bank," noted a practitioner from a compliant crypto exchange.
Opportunities in Hong Kong's crypto industry might not just be in traditional exchanges, asset management, and stablecoin companies. Institutions providing "water-selling" services in Hong Kong's crypto industry development are often key beneficiaries.
And the companies truly making a fortune quietly are often only known to the public years later.
Hong Kong Crypto from Different Perspectives
"For Crypto Natives, Hong Kong's compliant crypto companies innovate too slowly, with a hint of bureaucracy and even state-owned enterprise characteristics. For traditional Hong Kong financial institutions, this year's innovation KPIs might have already been exceeded," commented a mid-to-high-level manager at a compliant crypto exchange.
From different perspectives, Hong Kong's crypto industry presents entirely different appearances.
For practitioners who grew up immersed in crypto and blockchain culture, they are accustomed to a pace driven by code and community. However, today's Hong Kong crypto industry is entirely policy-driven. The wild spirit is gone, innovation's edge dulled, replaced by compliant steadiness and restraint. Many Crypto Natives feel that Hong Kong's compliance is "castrating" the crypto industry's original creativity, causing an immune response that leaves them at a loss.
For some practitioners from traditional finance who are used to a safe and stable rhythm, Hong Kong's crypto innovation pace isn't slow but is developing methodically. Slow is fast; fast is slow.
Practitioners in this historical torrent can only adapt. Whether loving or resisting, the historical current will ultimately roll forward.
