Hong Kong has long been an interesting region in the Chinese political landscape, as it goes against so many of the Chinese norms. As a former British colony, the territory is subjected to special laws and rules that are the polar opposite of what you would see in China. Even in the crypto and blockchain world, Hong Kong is taking a different approach when compared to its neighbor.
Crypto and blockchain regulations in Hong Kong have been fairly relaxed, with firms given a fairly long rope to play with. However, Hong Kong is slowly starting to reign these companies in and create new legislation that will regulate the industry in the region.
Hong Kong Developing its Blockchain Industry
The new rules that the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have designed are intended to help regulate the industry, making it safer and easier to access for businesses and investors alike. The SFC understands that it has a duty to protect investors in the region, and is simply implementing laws to ensure that fraudsters aren’t operating in the space. The new laws are by no means designed to kill the crypto and blockchain industry in Hong Kong – this has been made very clear.
China Culling Crypto
Only 34 miles over the newly constructed bridge lays China, a totally different crypto landscape. China opposes crypto vehemently and has even officially banned all commercial crypto activity. While a court in China ruled that Bitcoin payments are not illegal – as long as both parties agree upon its value and believe that it has a value – this still doesn’t mean that China is starting to soften its approach towards Bitcoin and the crypto industry as a whole. In fact, Baidu has started shutting down crypto related forums and altering its search engine results algorithms in order to filter out any crypto related sites.
Protecting Investors
According to a press release from the SFC, it’s looking to protect investors from scams, service outages, and market manipulation. Due to the fact that every crypto exchange has its own Bitcoin price based on the last buy/sell price, local exchanges in Hong Kong often come under scrutiny for local players manipulating the price. By introducing these new rules and regulations, Hong Kong will be able to carefully monitor crypto exchanges and help protect investors from these factors.
Crypto-friendly laws are coming into place all around the globe. Just last week Malta’s new crypto related laws became active, and more countries are looking to follow suit. If Hong Kong does implement rules for crypto exchanges, it will quickly become a hub in Asia for crypto exchanges.
