So you just have the opening or one of the key fireside chats with the RTS, who
is a guest on an animal call brands, and he's very encouraged by this new scheme
that we might get details of essentially, you know, legalizing retail
cryptocurrency trading here in Hong Kong.
Ravi mentioned that the e-mails was just talking about elevating the guardrails
for the retail side to mitigate against the risks to the retail investors.
Is Hong Kong lowering the guardrails? What's your strategy as far as
attracting retail investors into crypto? As you can see from our announcement
just now, what we're trying to do is to grow these virtual asset ecosystem in a
responsible, sustainable manner. Because after all, if you look as a
virtual assets, by its nature, there are two sides to it.
Of course, there are the logical aspects to it, including broaching the 80s and
so forth, which are positive in terms of bringing about efficiency to a financial
system or economy or trade finance. At the same time, lowering transaction
costs, at the same time, this potentially negative side towards taking
into account the anonymous nature of virtual assets like money laundering,
risk terrorist financing, so and so forth.
And that's why in the coming few months, there are a number of things that we
will do and also set out in our policy address their policy statement.
Number one is that we'll have an association basically to regulate the
virtual assets trading platform or the virtual assets exchanges in such a way
that will subject them to a similar regulation like a financial institution
covering like internal control is kosher.
So on and so forth. So that's number one.
And number two. IBEX point about retail associations.
Our regulator will issue a consultation document, basically try to engage the
market in terms of how we can get the retail access to this new regulatory
regime. That's number two.
And number three that we will do. At the same time, also our regulator is
to issue a secular basically to allow the ETF on which assets, because after
all, even before these announcements, you already see many institutions
launching ETP, extreme street products or assets.
So now what we are trying to do is to allow also the ETF with virtual assets
as an underlying. So all in all, in terms of the three
initiatives which has highlighted, they all combined from the policy and also
recovery angle in terms of how we want to develop and grow this ecosystem in a
responsible and sustainable manner. And what time frame are we looking at?
Bloomberg had a story last week. We're looking at maybe implementation as
early as March. That seems like awfully soon, too, to
come up with this kind of a regulatory certainty when you have to have some
trial runs and trial programs, don't you?
In fact, the legislation is now being vetted by the legislature.
And basically we have committee meetings with them to highlight to them what are
the key features and they will be the content.
And it's something that hopefully with approval will come soon.
But at the same time are after, of course, the regulatory work I just
highlight. It will continue.
But that said, in terms of our policy statement, one thing we also highlight
is the fact that we welcome the V.A. community.
And that's why even before the passage of the law, our regulator and also our
investment agencies, U.S. Hong Kong has also been in touch with
some of these players to understand the concerns and to see how we make a
facility. How significant is the fact and this is
what you to just mentioned, one thing that stuck out to him was the fact that
Hong Kong has been able to differentiate itself on crypto assets from the
mainland where cryptocurrency trading is essentially banned on the mainland.
How did Hong Kong carve that differential out from mainland policy?
Yes. One country, two systems.
Is this that being exemplified? Yeah, definitely.
Because after all, we operate under a different regulatory regime.
We have our own currency. We have a separate legal system.
I think all of these underpin the well cost regulation in our financial
markets. And similarly, in terms of how strings
as a financial center, one country, two systems is the key.
Yeah. Again, you talked about the risk
mitigation and some would say that perhaps in Hong Kong that it's there's a
little bit more risk aversion here in Hong Kong.
How does that play in, especially after what we've seen in the cryptocurrency
space since November of last year? A real implosion of value.
I mean, that the decimation, they're calling it the next ice age.
You point to the point to the importance of investor education, because after
all, regarding crypto virtual assets, all these new things, basically these
are new elements to send in people. So we need to keep up with our efforts
in mass education. And in fact, that's been ongoing efforts
to sort through our regulator for our investor education agencies.
We're doing all of that into the first four, highlighting to them what?
Yes. Secondly, how they can be more.
And secondly, what are the things they should be bearing in mind if they want
to be involved? So these are the things that we will do
and we'll continue to do so. Do you see very shortly.
Do you see the eco system over what time frame expanding where perhaps you can
get tokenization of stocks and bonds and even the introduction of derivatives?
In fact, we are also doing our part by the government in terms of identifying
these use cases, because after all, these innovations need applications from
some of these time and a fintech week. We this 2008 that is allowing people,
first of all, practically to get discounts if they come back next year
and at the same time to allow them to form a community in such a way that we
can disseminate them information about technical system.
And second, these about we took a nice issue of free bonds is something that we
would do.