Hong Kong
The Simpsons Episode Mentioning China’s “Forced Labor” Cut from Disney+ in Hong Kong
Season 34 episode "One Angry Lisa" references "forced labor camps where children make smartphones." The Simpsons Episode Mentioning China’s “Forced Labor” Cut from Disney+ in Hong Kong Eddie Fu
Hong Kong brokers line up for SFC approval ahead of new virtual asset trading legislation
Financial services providers in Hong Kong are already taking the first steps to provide services to retail investors, according to local reports. Brokers and fund managers in the region have reportedly asked for advice on licensing requirements ahead of new legislation. Lawmakers in Hong Kong passed an amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO) in December 2022, which aligns with the region’s recent stance on broadening the possibility for crypto trading. The amendment introduces a new licensing scheme for virtual asset service providers, which will allow retail investors the ability to trade in virtual assets. Currently, virtual asset trading is restricted to professional investors or traders with proof of at least $1 million in bankable assets...
2 executives of crypto exchange AAX arrested in Hong Kong: Report
Hong Kong police arrested two executives of the crypto exchange AAX accused of fraud and misleading the police, according to local media reports. Weigao Capital CEO Liang Haoming and former AAX CEO Thor Chan were arrested on Dec. 23. Local authorities accused them of claiming there was “system maintenance” as an excuse to delay customers from withdrawing assets amid liquidity issues. One of the executives also allegedly lied to the police about the timeline of his activities in the company, deliberately misleading law enforcement. Two bank accounts of AAX as well as the executive’s bank accounts and properties have been frozen. A third executive reportedly fled overseas with an AAX wallet and private keys that police believe contain around $30 million in digital assets. His propertie...
HK legislator’s firm to lure 1,000 Web3 start-ups over 3 years
A start-up accelerator co-founded by Hong Kong legislative council member Jonny Ng Kit-Chong wants to attract 1,000 Web3 businesses to set up shop in the city-state over the next three years. Ng Kit-Chong is a member of the legislative council for the election committee constituency and has been in office since January this year. The engineer and politician has his finger in a lot of pots as he has declared owning shares in roughly 40 different companies. One such company is the start-up accelerator G-Rocket, which he co-founded alongside Casper Wong in 2016. Wong is the current CEO and spoke to the South China Morning Post on Dec. 23 about the firm’s new aptly named program “Hong Kong Web 3.0 Hub.” The CEO outlined that G-Rocket is first looking to help 100 Web3 start-ups get their busine...
Amber Group’s co-founder Tiantian Kullander passes away at 30
Amber Group’s co-founder Tiantian Kullander, also known as TT, unexpectedly passed away in his sleep on Nov. 23, according to the company’s official website. Tiantian was 30 years old and leaves behind a wife and a son. Besides co-founding the Hong Kong-based Amber Group, TT sat on the board of the e-sports company Fnatic and founded KeeperDAO, a DeFi protocol that allows participants to trade, borrow and stake assets with protection from miner value extracted (MEV) bots, before returning it to the community. In an official statement, Amber Group noted that TT had devoted his heart and soul to the company, leading by example with “his intellect, generosity, humility, diligence and creativity.” The company also stated: “TT was a respected thought leader and wid...
Hong Kong believes stablecoin volatility can spillover to traditional finance
The fall of crypto giants this year reignited questions about the stability of cryptocurrencies and their impact on fiat ecosystems. Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) assessed the situation and found that the instabilities of crypto assets, including asset-backed stablecoins, can potentially spill over to the traditional financial system. The HKMA assessment on asset-backed stablecoins pointed out the risks of liquidity mismatch, negatively impacting their stability during “fire-sale” events. A fire sale event relates to a momentary price fluctuation when investors can purchase stablecoins cheaper than their market price — a phenomenon noticed during the Terra (LUNA) crash. According to Hong Kong’s central bank, the interconnection of crypto assets has made the crypto ecosystem more vuln...
Could Hong Kong really become China’s proxy in crypto?
With its partial autonomy, the island city of Hong Kong has traditionally served as “a gate to China” — the local trade center, backed by transparent English-style common law and an openly pro-business government strategy. Could the harbor, home to seven million inhabitants, inherit this role in relation to the crypto industry, becoming a proxy for mainland China’s experiments with crypto? An impulse to such questioning was given by Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of crypto derivatives giant BitMEX in his Oct. 26 blog post. Hayes believes the Hong Kong government’s announcement about introducing a bill to regulate crypto to be a sign that China is trying to ease its way back into the market. The opinion was immediately replicated in a range of industrial and mainstream media. What happe...
Nifty News: GameStop NFT market goes live, Hong Kong’s NFT concept and more
The nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace for American video game retailer GameStop has officially gone live on Ethereum layer-2 blockchain ImmutableX, all part of the latest Web3 push from the gaming retailer. The pair first partnered in February to build the marketplace offering a $100 million grant for NFT content creators and tech developers before a public beta of the NFT marketplace debuted in July. With the Oct. 31 announcement of the full launch, GameStop’s market will allow for popular Web3 games on ImmutableX such as the role-playing game Illuvium and Gods Unchained to be accessed by users. GameStop has worked to launch a series of Web3-powered products over the past year, with a beta self-custody crypto wallet released in May that integrates with its NFT marketplace. In Marc...
HK and Singapore’s mega-rich are eyeing crypto investments: KPMG
Hong Kong and Singapore’s wealthy elite appear to be looking at digital assets with fervor, after a new report from KPMG suggesting over 90% of family offices and high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) are interested in investing in the digital assets space or have already done so. According to an Oct. 24 report from KPMG China and Aspen Digital titled “Investing in Digital Assets,” as much as 58% of family offices and HNWI of respondents in a recent survey are already investing in digital assets, and 34% “plan to do so.” The survey took the pulse from 30 family offices and HNWIs in Hong Kong and Singapore with most respondents managing assets between $10 million to $500 million. KPMG said the large crypto uptake among the ultra-wealthy has increased confidence in the sector, spurred...
Hong Kong unveils completed retail CBDC project that has a CBDC-backed stablecoin
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority presented its completed Aurum retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) prototype on Oct. 21. The system, developed in conjunction with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, has a unique structure that reflects the intricacies of the existing system for issuing money in Hong Kong. Aurum consists of a wholesale interbank system and retail e-wallet. The e-wallet is created at a local bank and has a smartphone interface. A validator system prevents bank over-issuance and user double redemption. The intermediated retail CBDC is used in the e-wallets, and CBDC-backed stablecoins are used in the interbank system. The unusual CBDC-backed stablecoins digitally mirror Hong Kong’s existing currency system, in which bank notes are issued by th...
Not like China: Hong Kong reportedly wants to legalize crypto trading
Hong Kong is taking action to regain its status as a global cryptocurrency hub by launching several legal initiatives related to the crypto industry. A city and special administrative region of China, Hong Kong is willing to distinguish its crypto regulation approach from the blanket crypto ban in mainland China. The government of Hong Kong is considering introducing its own bill to regulate crypto in its own China-free way, according to Elizabeth Wong, head of the fintech unit at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). One of the SFC’s initiatives is allowing retail investors to “directly invest into virtual assets,” Wong said during a panel held by InvestHK, the South China Morning Post reported on Oct. 17. Such an initiative would mark a significant shift from the SFC’s stance over...
BIS marks CBDC pilot as ‘successful’ with $22M transacted
A multi-jurisdictional central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot has been marked “successful” by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) after a month-long test phase that facilitated $22 million worth of real-value cross-border transactions. The central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand, China and the United Arab Emirates took part in the pilot program along with 20 commercial banks from those regions. More than $12 million worth of value was issued onto the test platform, which facilitated 164 foreign exchange transactions and cross-border payments between the participating firms totaling over $22 million worth of value, according to a Tuesday LinkedIn post from the BIS. Graphic from the BIS on the CBDC pilot. Source: LinkedIn Daniel Eidan, an adviser and solution architect at the BIS,&...
