According to TechFlow, Binance, OKX, HTX, Bybit Gate and others have withdrawn their applications for Hong Kong licenses. Wu said that the reason is that the Hong Kong SFC requires all applicants for virtual asset trading platform licenses to sign a letter of commitment, promising that none of their entities can have mainland Chinese users in any region. This requirement makes it impossible for traditional offshore exchanges to meet. OKX tried to form an industry alliance to oppose this requirement but failed. However, industry insiders said that the withdrawn entities can apply again after updating the legal entity or framework in the future, but they should not be able to apply using brands similar to offshore exchanges.