Hong Kong is accelerating efforts to establish itself as a leading global hub for digital finance, building upon its early ventures into tokenized government debt. The city has successfully implemented distributed ledger technology for bond issuance in recent years, indicating a strategic shift towards normalizing tokenized bonds.
A key component of this push is the newly introduced Digital Asset Development Policy Declaration 2.0. This framework establishes the LEAP initiative, focusing on four pillars: Legal clarity, Ecosystem growth, Adoption promotion, and People development, aiming to create a holistic environment for digital assets.
Enhancing market infrastructure, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has launched the city’s inaugural digital asset indexes tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum. These benchmarks are designed to provide institutional investors with transparent and standardized tools for navigating the digital asset space.
The expansion continues with clear regulatory approvals for essential digital asset services. Authorities have greenlit spot cryptocurrency ETFs, crypto futures products, and notably, staking services, as evidenced by funds like HashKey securing authorization for this yield-generating activity.
Legislative action further cemented Hong Kong’s commitment with the passage of the Stablecoin Bill. This new law aims to regulate stablecoin issuance comprehensively, underpinning Hong Kong’s ambition as a central node for digital assets and Web3 innovation globally.