Financial Association, November 25 - (Reporter Guo Zishuo) On November 25, Hong Kong digital bank ZA Bank announced that it officially became the first bank in Asia to provide cryptocurrency trading services for retail users. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two major cryptocurrencies currently supported by the bank.
Currently, ZBank users can directly buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum using Hong Kong dollars and US dollars through the ZA Bank App, without switching to other applications or platforms. According to the latest policy, ZBank users using cryptocurrency investment services have a minimum transaction amount of only 70 US dollars or 600 Hong Kong dollars. New users enjoy zero commission for the first three months after opening cryptocurrency investment services.
However, currently, ZA Bank's virtual currency trading business is only open to Hong Kong users. Financial Association reporters checked the cryptocurrency trading section of ZA Bank and found that the current page is in a "restricted access" status.
Relevant persons from ZA Bank told Financial Association reporters: "ZA Bank's users are divided into mainland users and Hong Kong users. Currently, only users holding a Hong Kong identity card can activate cryptocurrency trading services. Visitors to Hong Kong, even if they already have a Zhong An Bank savings account, cannot activate cryptocurrency trading services."
Wu Zhonghao, the acting CEO of ZA Bank, stated: "The rise of cryptocurrency provides investors with more diversified asset allocation options. As a bank, we understand the importance of security and compliance, so we cooperate with the globally leading licensed virtual asset exchange HashKey, strictly adhering to regulatory requirements to provide bank-level security for investors in virtual asset trading, which has also become an important core competitive advantage for us in the Asian market."
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) updated the list of licensed virtual asset trading platforms on the 3rd of last month, announcing HKVAX as the third virtual asset exchange recognized by Hong Kong regulatory authorities, following OSL Exchange and HashKey Exchange. This is also the first time in two years that the Hong Kong SFC has approved a virtual asset exchange license.
According to the latest survey by the Hong Kong Association of Banks, nearly 70% of respondents stated that if banks provide virtual asset trading services, it would make buying and selling virtual assets more convenient and could popularize virtual currency trading.
In this regard, Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Zhiyan, told Financial Association reporters that compared to legal digital currencies, the use of virtual currencies has certain limitations. Virtual currencies carry certain risks, and many governments hold a critical attitude towards them. However, due to the recent slight easing of attitudes toward virtual currencies in some countries and regions, corresponding signals have been released, causing subtle changes in market expectations. This time, a digital bank claims to support virtual currency trading, which may be based on the above expectations, aiming to seize the virtual currency trading market in Asia.
Recently, it has been reported that Howard Lutnick, the new US Secretary of Commerce nominated by Trump, is reportedly accelerating the popularization of cryptocurrency. In the market, the price of Bitcoin has surged close to the 100,000 US dollar mark. Last Friday, Bitcoin futures even briefly broke through 100,000 US dollars.
(Reporter from Financial Association, Guo Zishuo)
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