As Hong Kong is trying to straighten out regulation,
could we be seeing a shift in the world of financial dominance?
Is it possible that Asia is seeing a light at the end of the tunnel
when it comes to dominating the world's finances
because America is struggling to make up its mind on crypto?
Let's find out.
Let's get it!
Now, I think everything changed dramatically in the past two years, I will say.
Hong Kong right now I think is in a very embrace-crypto mode.
So that's why I think not only they launched crypto ETF today
and that they welcome like every exchange to establish their Hong Kong branch.
Here we have in this clip from December of last year
Justin Sun explained that Hong Kong is extremely pivotal to the future of crypto
and that they're being very accepting and optimistic
when it comes to allowing crypto exchanges to come into their world.
So, Hong Kong re-entering crypto is an essential ingredient
for the next bull run,
or at least that's what Justin Sun and many others believe.
So, let's see what's going on in Hong Kong right now.
We have blockchain-based government-issued bond just rolled out in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong issues the first blockchain-based tokenized bond in the world.
Have you ever wondered what will happen once blockchain technologies go mainstream?
How will they be applied and what benefits will they offer?
Well, we might just be about to find out, thanks to Hong Kong's latest bond offering.
Of course, keep in mind, we just had the Siemens digital bond launch last week.
The government of Hong Kong just made history
after announcing the rollout of the Tokenized Green Bond
worth roughly HK$800 million.
This is the first bond of its kind
and it was reportedly rolled out through a private blockchain network.
And, of course, here to weigh in on it was Justin Sun.
"HK gov issues their 1st tokenized green bond on blockchain,
showing DLT's financial potential.
Proud to see more institutions embracing blockchain
and excited to see #TRON's role in the future of finance."
Tron?
Eh. Meh.
Some people like it. It is pretty fast.
But, obviously, since it launched, it's underperformed quite a bit.
Maybe finally now because of its speed and low transactions,
finding some utility in the world of blockchain.
But down here, it says
Tron's founder Justin Sun was among the first industry figures
to acknowledge the magnitude of the tokenized bond offering.
He noted that the bond is a great opportunity to demonstrate the financial potential
of decentralized ledger technology.
Sun stated that the bond offering is an example of the ongoing adoption of blockchain by institutions.
So, keep this in mind.
Financial and technological evolution.
That's what crypto is.
I tell you guys this all the time.
When you see more of these bonds being issued digitally,
you start to realize
what do we even need banks for?
It's a big narrative to follow.
If that wasn't enough,
now, we have $340 billion broker debuting Bitcoin trading in Hong Kong
as crypto demand grows.
Interactive Brokers, a global electronic broker with a valuation of about $340 billion,
has announced the launch of crypto trading in Hong Kong.
The new product allows professional investor clients of Interactive Brokers Hong Kong
to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum alongside with other assets.
Remember, "professional clients."
These are not your retail traders.
These are your accredited investors.
So, not open to everyone there.
Eligible clients must have $1 million in investable assets,
blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada.
More of the same old, same old.
The traditional gatekeeping is still going on in Hong Kong,
as it does here in the United States.
But something to really think about Hong Kong as we're looking at all these innovation coming there
is that, in the world of Hong Kong, Hong Kong is a representation of China.
So, of course, we had the Bitcoin mining ban in China.
They're always trying to ban crypto.
Hong Kong is seen as more of their, I guess, liberal arm, if you will.
Hong Kong is able to take hold of things and operate almost as an independent government
still under the thumb of the Chinese government.
So, what does this mean?
This means that what we're seeing in Hong Kong could be precursors
for what we could see in China, depending on these reactions.
Now, of course, we also have this.
Hong Kong plans to lift ban on retail crypto trading.
So, on one side, we've got for the accredited investors.
For the big boys, we've got some ways to trade in Hong Kong.
Now, they're considering to lift the retail ban.
Hong Kong's regulator proposed a relaxation of rules
banning retail investors from buying crypto tokens
from licensed platforms on Monday.
Remember, precursor to China.
The regulator also announced all crypto trading platforms operating in Hong Kong
need to be approved by the Securities and Futures Commission by June 2024,
or else close down its operations.
The SFC will not hesitate to take enforcement action.
Sounds like somebody else I know.
Hong Kong last year announced new mandatory licensing provisions
for centralized crypto service providers, which come into effect on June 1.
They said it was looking to strike a better balance between investor protection
and market development.
The regulator also asked exchanges to explain which crypto derivative products
they want to offer investors and why.
Currently, licensed exchanges in the city are not allowed to sell crypto derivatives,
a rule the regulator said it might change.
Now, obviously, when we're talking about derivatives here,
we are talking about websites like Deribit.
We're looking at Bybit, Bitget, all these.
And, of course, if you want to sign up for Bitget,
we have a link down below in the description for you,
if you do want to trade.
But they're trying to make these more defined in what they want to accept
when it comes to derivatives platforms.
On June 1, 2023,
Hong Kong will officially make crypto purchase and sell, trading, fully legal for all of its citizens.
So that's June 1.
Expect a huge influx of big money from the East.
Asian currency-based stablecoin coming out of Hong Kong will be a certainty as well.
Now, here's something to consider.
This date right here.
June 1, okay?
June 1 is very important. Why?
Well, around June 1 is, according to the 4-year cycles,
when we should be seeing another big leg up in crypto.
Bitcoin should be making the last of its great bull traps,
if in fact it plays out the way the last cycle played out.
Right now, we're in the middle of a bull trap.
We should go to about $30K, $28K to $30K, and come back down to $20K.
Then maybe around the summer,
May, June,
we might make another run up,
where we could go as high as $45K to $50K before getting a retracement.
That will be right in that range.
So definitely something to watch.
"No, Hong Kong will not be allowing retail traders access to crypto on June 1."
So, this is pretty interesting because we are seeing people arguing over what this means.
Is this actually what it claims to be?
Or is it just the accredited investors on June 1?
Hong Kong is warming up to crypto,
and a licensing regime for Virtual Asset Service Providers,
the local term for crypto exchanges, kicks in on June 1.
Does this mean crypto is going "fully legal" for everyone in the city as a tweet suggests?
Now, we're going to come back to this tweet here in a few minutes.
While the situation may change later,
for the time being, the VASP framework for licensing exchanges,
which just finished a multiyear consultation,
allows them to provide access only to accredited professional investors.
Retail investors are excluded.
Very interesting here.
The Hong Kong government has indicated that the Securities and Futures Commission,
its securities regulator,
may consider retail access to virtual asset services in the future,
after further consultation.
So, let me tell you how I read this.
I basically read this to mean that
right now, they're testing the waters.
Kind of like we're saying Hong Kong is testing the waters for China.
They're trying to see what the sentiment is for retail traders.
Do retail traders in Hong Kong want, demand to be able to invest in cryptos?
Or they're kind of meh?
Because if they're meh,
then there's no reason for them to make this legal.
But as you can see,
at the beginning the video, we said they're trying to sort out legislation
because we don't exactly know where they stand on this.
Is it only accredited? Or is it also going to be for retail?
We're getting mixed signals.
And remember, earlier, they're talking about stablecoins?
Well, how about this?
China begins Hong Kong cross-border digital yuan pilot.
Of course, digital yuan was launched back, I believe, in 2021 in China
under a test program, a pilot program.
And now for the first time, we're using cross-border digital yuan
because in Hong Kong, they don't use the yuan.
They use the Hong Kong dollar, the HK.
So, very interesting to see what shakes down here with this.
China's MATIC conflux up 67%.
It's up 500% for the week!
We looked at it on the livestream this morning.
I didn't even know what it was.
But here we go.
China's supposed MATIC competitor,
Conflux (CFX),
is among the top-performing altcoins today
as it is up almost 70%.
Up 500% earlier.
We looked at it on the live stream.
But the point is,
are we starting to see things in China, things in the Far East, start moving in crypto?
Well, a lot of people believe that this is something we will see.
Justin Sun's Huobi seeks Hong Kong crypto license amid regulatory shift.
I can't keep up with which exchange Justin Sun owns.
He did own Poloniex.
I think he sold it. Then he bought--
I don't know what he's doing.
But the point here is,
if you really look at what he's saying about Huobi,
"Huobi has announced that it's applying for a crypto trading license in Hong Kong,"
Justin Sun is reiterating he believes Hong Kong is the kickoff for the next bull run.
And so you really look at the timing of all this, how a lot of this stuff will be applying later this year.
That lines up.
We've got the halving, of course, coming next year, in 2024.
Early in the year, the first half of the year.
Maybe even Quarter 1.
Some people believe that this will really be the thing that gets this going.
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Let's go back to the Brian Armstrong tweet.
"America risks losing its status as a financial hub long term,
with no clear regulations on crypto,"
thanks, Gary Gensler,
"and a hostile environment from regulators.
Congress should act soon to pass clear legislation.
Crypto is open to everyone in the world and others are leading.
The EU, the UK, and now HK."
And there are plenty of other crypto pundits who've had a lot to say
about what Brian Armstrong says here.
We got the Winklevoss twins that obviously believe the bull run is going to start in China.
You've got Nouriel Roubini,
who's now saying that the dollar is going to lose dominance
and we're no longer going to be the financial hub of the world.
But the question is, can we have both?
Can we have big money backing Asia, but also America remain financially dominant?
And the answer to that question, I believe, is yes.
I believe we can have both.
If you think the United States is going to sleep on crypto,
and crypto regulation is just going to allow this entire blockchain movement to pass them by,
you're wrong.
We just have to have the right people in place.
Gary Gensler represents Goldman Sachs.
He represents the banks.
He's not the person we need in leadership.
We call upon Congress to remove him as quickly as possible.
And I believe that Congress, as opposed to Gary Gensler,
will actually do their job and will remove him from office
because he is the one holding us back from maintaining financial dominance
when it comes to blockchain and crypto.
I think we're going to get it straightened out because I believe in America,
and I believe that we will do what's right in order to keep ourselves ahead of everybody else.
However, there is a lot going on with Asia, with Hong Kong right now.
Watch China.
What comes out of all this Hong Kong regulation,
all this Hong Kong excitement,
the way that it flows into China will be the telltale sign
of what's going to happen in this next bull run.
Go and drop comments below. Let us know what you think.
Do you think the bull run will start in Hong Kong?
Do you think it'll start on Mars?
Or do you think it will start at all?
Let us know in the comments.
That's all I got.
Be blessed.
BitBoy out.