Julia Leung, chief executive of Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), said that despite the ongoing debate about the intrinsic value of bitcoin, it is still unclear whether it will be used as an alternative asset.
Speaking at the Greenwich Economic Forum in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Leung acknowledged that while most central bank governors and economists argue that virtual assets such as #bitcoin and ether have no intrinsic value, Bitcoin has gone through several up and down cycles over the past 15 years, demonstrating its durability.
Leung's comments came as the SFC officially introduced a licensing system for cryptocurrency trading platforms and required all exchanges serving retail investors in Hong Kong to be licensed. However, Hong Kong MP Duncan Chiu criticized the "overly strict" rule, saying it would prevent major global exchanges from entering the market and undermine investor confidence.
"Bitcoin has gone through many boom and bust cycles and clearly demonstrates its resilience as an alternative asset [... This underlying technology, DLT, will remain," Leung said.
While supporting the development of the Web3 ecosystem in Hong Kong, Leon emphasized that this should not be interpreted as an endorsement of virtual assets, which she described as highly speculative and subject to severe price fluctuations. The SFC has put in place extensive investor protection measures to meet investor demand for these assets.
In addition to the licensing regime for crypto exchanges, the SFC is working to regulate stable coins. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) recently completed a consultation on a proposed scheme that would require issuers of stable coins to fully maintain high-quality liquid reserve assets.
On 05/23/2013 Crypto Briefing reported that it is considering introducing stablecoins in #StartInvestingInCrypto #Etf , approved by regulators 1 month ago, but bitcoin and Ethereum Etf have faced a sharp outflow of funds in the domestic market after 2 weeks of launch.
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