Hong Kong plans to legalize retail crypto trading: Bloomberg

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Quick Take

  • Hong Kong is planning to allow retail investors to trade crypto on licensed exchanges, Bloomberg reports.
  • Officials will announce more details Monday at a Hong Kong fintech conference as part of effort to position the city as a center for the virtual assets industry.

Hong Kong's government plans to allow retail investors to trade crypto on locally licensed exchanges as part of a wider effort to position the city as a center for virtual asset service providers, according to Bloomberg.

A mandatory licensing regime for crypto trading platforms that is due to begin in March will allow retail trading, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. Details of the new regime are expected to be announced on Monday at an annual fintech conference in the city where senior government and regulatory officials are scheduled to speak.

Currently, only two crypto exchanges are licensed to operate in Hong Kong and they are limited to offering a narrow range of services to sophisticated investors only. The city's regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, is also looking at allowing licensed exchanges to offer a wider range of coins and tokens on their platforms, Bloomberg reported.

A SFC spokesperson declined to comment to Bloomberg.


© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

AUTHOR

Benjamin Robertson is senior newsletter writer at The Block, based in Oxford. He covers global crypto policy and regulation news. Before joining, he worked at Bloomberg News where he wrote about crypto, regulation and finance in Hong Kong, and later reported on private equity and asset management in London. Get in touch via email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @BMMRobertson

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Editor

To contact the editor of this story: Andrew Rummer at [email protected]

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