In a recent blog post, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, Paul Chan Mo-po, mentioned that during his visit to Europe, he introduced Hong Kong as a pioneer in embracing Web3.0 development to local regulatory authorities and the financial industry. He discussed how Hong Kong is driving market development from various aspects such as regulatory framework, product innovation, and government financing.
In terms of regulatory framework, Hong Kong implemented a licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms in June last year and is currently formulating other licensing requirements for virtual asset businesses. Regarding product innovation, the first batch of six virtual asset ETFs in Asia has been listed, introducing a mechanism for physical subscription and redemption. In terms of government bond financing, the Hong Kong SAR government has globally issued two batches of tokenized green bonds, with the second batch totaling USD 770 million in multiple currencies (Hong Kong dollars, Renminbi, Euros, and US dollars). These are the world’s first multi-currency government green bonds issued in digital native form.
Chan also mentioned that in October this year, the flagship event of Hong Kong Web3 will provide an opportunity for further international exchanges and expansion of cooperation with key stakeholders in the financial technology sector.