The Hong Kong gold market is undergoing a historic reform, with the Gold and Silver Exchange being transformed into the 'Hong Kong Gold Exchange'. It has launched an innovative product, the digital gold token GoldZip, combining policy support and technological applications to inject new momentum into global gold trading. (Background: Evolution of funding rates: from the golden era in 2021 to the resurgence of arbitrage in 2024-2025) (Additional context: When will Bitcoin surpass gold? Galaxy Digital CEO: History will be witnessed in 5-8 years) Recently, the Hong Kong gold market has welcomed historic changes! Starting from 2025, the Hong Kong Gold and Silver Exchange will be restructured into the 'Hong Kong Gold Exchange'. Hong Kong, as a major financial hub in Asia, aims to change the trading history of precious metals that has existed since 1911, reforming the gold exchange and using it as a foundation to build an international gold trading center. The transformation of the Gold and Silver Exchange into a Gold Exchange combines history with innovation. Since its establishment in 1910, the Hong Kong Gold and Silver Exchange has been the core of local gold and precious metal trading. With the increasing global demand for gold, in December 2024, the exchange announced its transformation into the 'Hong Kong Gold Exchange', which will officially operate in 2025. This exchange will focus on spot trading of gold, silver, and other commodities, while also promoting innovative products like the digital gold GoldZip and compliance listing on local cryptocurrency trading platforms. The digital gold GoldZip aims to popularize gold investment through digital certification, with investment units finely divided to grams (g). Based on current gold prices, each hand is approximately a few hundred Hong Kong dollars, allowing for 24-hour trading and cashing out. Theoretically, if the exchange opens withdrawals to personal wallets, it could achieve decentralized asset management. The chairman of the exchange, Zhang Dexi, stated that this reform aligns with the Hong Kong government's goal of 'enhancing Hong Kong as an international gold trading center' and plans to establish a gold market development working group to promote policy implementation, thereby enhancing Hong Kong's competitiveness in the international market in the short term. The government supports the development of the gold industry, and the construction of an international-grade gold warehouse mentioned in the policy report is an important part of this plan. Currently, Hong Kong's vault is located in the airport restricted area, but due to geographical location and operational convenience limitations, it cannot fully meet market demand. Therefore, the government is considering establishing a new vault at the Lok Ma Chau boundary crossing in northern Hong Kong to strengthen the 'connectivity' of the gold market between Hong Kong and China. The industry also holds high hopes for this, expecting that the new warehouse can more effectively serve Chinese demand and attract more international capital. Furthermore, the concept of 'Gold Connect' has emerged, which may reference the operational models of stock connect and bond connect to further deepen the market integration between China and Hong Kong. Geopolitical factors and central bank gold purchases drive gold demand. In recent years, geopolitical instability and global economic uncertainty have pushed gold to once again become a safe-haven asset. Data shows that in 2023, the share of gold purchase demand from global central banks has increased from 11% in 2021 to 23%. As the world's largest asset, gold's liquidity is second only to the S&P 500 index of U.S. stocks. Zhang Dexi mentioned that although gold prices have been slightly conservative recently, he believes that as geopolitical issues continue to escalate, gold prices will maintain a strong momentum, predicting stability above $2500 per ounce, and potentially challenging $2850. In the past, both HSBC and Tether had launched gold tokens. HSBC and Tether have previously introduced gold tokens, such as HSBC Gold Token and Tether Gold (XAUt), but were limited by insufficient commercial application and popularity. However, this time, the gold market reform and digital gold token promoted by the Hong Kong authorities signify that gold tokenization will further combine with policy support, which is expected to bring a new atmosphere to the gold market and significantly enhance investor participation and convenience. Let us continue to pay attention.