Compiled by: Nona, Techub News
Today, an important press conference on Web 3 policy was held by the office of Hong Kong Legislative Councillor Ng Kit-chung, aiming to review Hong Kong's achievements in the field of virtual assets in the past year and a half and look forward to future development prospects. At this press conference, Councillor Ng shared a series of exciting data and policy initiatives, emphasizing the positive impact of virtual assets on Hong Kong's economy and society as a whole. From business settlement, employment opportunities to event economic benefits, as well as compliant transactions and ETF development, data from all aspects show that Web 3 has become one of the important engines of Hong Kong's development. In addition, Councillor Ng also put forward suggestions for future policies, including the relaxation of talent policies, the promotion of digital resident identities, and the strengthening of Web 3 policy support. These measures will further promote Hong Kong to become Asia's leading virtual asset compliance city and attract more international investment institutions and professional investors to participate. The following is the full text.
To all major media organizations:
The office of Councilor Ng Kit-chuang held a press conference today on the industry situation and prospects of Web 3 policy for one and a half years to share with the public the positive impact that the Web 3 industry had on Hong Kong's economy and overall social development last year, as well as share policy initiatives.
Councillor Wu Jiezhuang said that since the SAR Government issued the virtual asset policy on October 31, 2022, about a year and a half ago, it can be seen from the following perspectives and figures that it has had a significant positive impact on Hong Kong's economic and technological development, including:
1. Number of companies settled in Hong Kong and jobs created: There are more than 500 companies and projects settled in Hong Kong, including institutions that are applying for virtual asset trading platforms, asset management institutions, large public chain projects, media institutions, technology projects, etc. Among the more than 20 institutions that are applying for virtual asset trading platforms, the office has at least 50 people, and the largest number is nearly 100 people. All of them have introduced overseas talents or recruited in Hong Kong. The institutions that have applied for licenses alone have created more than 1,000 jobs for Hong Kong. The area of commercial office rented exceeds 100,000 square meters.
2. Event economic benefits: The implementation of the policy has attracted several key local and international industry summits to be held in Hong Kong. The carnival held in Hong Kong last month attracted 30,000 participants, with more than 150 sub-events held; next week, another large-scale Bitcoin summit from overseas will be held in Hong Kong for the first time. According to data, more than 5,000 overseas people have signed up to participate; and next year, a large international summit, Consensus, will be held in Hong Kong. In addition to driving the development of the industry, related events have attracted thousands or even tens of thousands of high-net-worth overseas tourists to Hong Kong each time, bringing positive impacts to Hong Kong's retail, catering, and hotel industries.
3. Compliance trading and ETF development: The SAR government has so far approved two licensed virtual asset trading platforms and three ETF issuers for Bitcoin and Ethereum. The relevant measures will help international investment institutions and professional investors to participate in virtual asset trading through Hong Kong's compliance market. Overall, as a leading virtual asset compliance city in Asia, product diversification and leading compliance procedures will help further attract professional investment institutions from various countries and strengthen Hong Kong's financial development.
In addition, Councillor Ng Kit-chung proposed the following proposals for Hong Kong's future Web 3 policies. Councillor Ng suggested strengthening support for the industry and sectors in three aspects:
1. Talent policy: Councillor Ng Kit-chung believes that restrictions on the introduction of technology talents should be relaxed. "I welcome the National Immigration Administration's further measures to facilitate the entry of mainland professionals into Hong Kong. I think Hong Kong should also take the initiative, including the "Talent Visa" I mentioned earlier, which can be issued to relevant professional technology talents who meet the local policy standards, allowing them to come to Hong Kong two to three times a year for 30 days each time to ensure that they can give full play to their strengths in Hong Kong."
2. Digital resident identity: Councillor Wu proposed to actively accelerate the development of digital resident identity to facilitate non-Hong Kong residents to engage in business and commercial activities in Hong Kong. This move will help attract overseas people to develop Web 3 and other technological developments in Hong Kong. In addition, it is also suggested that the SAR government may consider planning a "Digital Technology City" in the Northern Metropolitan Area or the Loop Area, designing complete work and living facilities, so that global digital technology talents can be concentrated in Hong Kong.
3. Strengthen Web 3 policy support: Currently, the Web 3 field has two main pain points, namely, the banking system and entity registration. For example, it is difficult for many virtual asset-related institutions to open accounts in the banking system. The SAR government may consider referring to overseas cases and promoting virtual asset banks in Hong Kong, or explore how to relax the bank's management of virtual assets based on the existing virtual banks. In addition, there are currently different international public chain projects that also need to be settled in Web 3-friendly regions. The relevant departments of the SAR government should consider promoting new
The "Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) Ordinance" allows this type of new concept institution and public chain project to settle in Hong Kong.
Finally, Councillor Ng Kit-chung suggested that the SAR government should further increase resources to educate investors in the future, and at the same time strengthen publicity to make the public understand that virtual assets are high-risk investment activities and that they need to have a full understanding and knowledge of the relevant products before making investment decisions.
If the media has any enquiries on the above issues, please contact Louise at 63508883.
Thanks.
Office of the Legislative Councillor Ng Kit-chung
May 2, 2024
