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Hong Kong’s Approach to Crypto Regulation Could Attract Capital, Talent to Asia: Bernstein
The Securities and Futures Commission is adopting a “regulate to protect” approach to digital assets, the report said.
By Will Canny
Updated Feb 21, 2023, 4:29 p.m. Published Feb 21, 2023, 10:04 a.m.
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has taken a “regulate to protect” approach to cryptocurrencies, contrasting with recent action in the U.S. of regulation by enforcement, Bernstein said in a research report Monday.
The broker says this could be a “critical fork in the road” for the cryptocurrency industry, which could lead to capital and talent moving to Asia as a crypto hub.
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The SFC on Monday published its proposed rules for virtual asset trading platforms and is seeking public comment. It plans to allow retail investors access to licensed exchanges, subject to restrictions, the report said, reasoning that investors are better off dealing with licensed venues rather than offshore and unregulated players.
Trading in crypto derivatives remains off the table for now as the SFC has deferred the decision on allowing such instruments to a later point in time.
The new licensing regime is expected to go live June 1, with a 12-month transition period for existing crypto exchanges. Exchanges that are not already operating in Hong Kong will have to be fully compliant before they start trading.
Read more: How Hong Kong Is Gearing Up to Regulate Stablecoins
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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