According to PANews on January 4, as reported by Hong Kong 01, there are employees in overseas regions who accept Bitcoin as salary, but it is not common in Hong Kong. The reason is that the Hong Kong (Employment Ordinance) stipulates that wages must be paid in monetary form, and cryptocurrencies are not legal tender, so employers using Bitcoin may violate the law. Some technology companies have used Bitcoin as a New Year bonus or reward, which does not pose significant legal issues. However, from a mortgage perspective, Bitcoin cannot be considered as a non-fixed income like a bonus. Banks generally calculate borrowers' income by averaging the bonuses received over the past two years to supply the debt-to-income ratio (DTI), with a chance to apply for a maximum of 90% mortgage; however, since Bitcoin is not legal tender, even if employees continuously receive Bitcoin as rewards or bonuses, or mention Bitcoin income in tax filings, banks will not accept it. Borrowers can only calculate DTI based on salaries, bonuses, and commissions received in legal tender.
Hong Kong banks have not yet recognized Bitcoin, currently only accepting cash, stocks, foreign currencies, Hong Kong properties, funds, and bonds. Some banks also accept insurance policies without premium financing as applicant assets, but there have been no successful cases with Bitcoin, primarily because Hong Kong banks do not recognize cryptocurrencies. The only feasible method is to cash out the cryptocurrency, and then use the funds as a down payment for property, or apply for a mortgage based on asset level. According to the latest regulations, there is a chance to apply for a maximum loan of 70%. It should be noted that if cash is sought after cashing out to apply for an asset mortgage, some banks require clients to keep the funds in their accounts for more than three months and also need to present bank statements. If it shows that the funds are obtained from cashing out cryptocurrency sales, banks will be very concerned about the source of funds or assets. Since buying and selling cryptocurrencies can easily involve money laundering activities, banks may need to mitigate risks, which can result in rejection of mortgage applications, and there is even a chance that the bank account could be frozen.
