Media365
Hong Kong’s securities regulator unveiled several new initiatives on Wednesday aimed at further developing the city’s virtual asset sector while strengthening investor safeguards.
The announcements by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) coincided with Consensus 2026, a major cryptocurrency conference running this week at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, attended by industry figures such as Binance CEO Richard Teng and Solana Foundation president Lily Liu.
“[At Consensus last year] we unveiled Aspire, a road map for us to develop the crypto market,” SFC CEO Julia Leung Fung-yee told the conference. “[This year], we will also deliver a widening of products and services.”
The first initiative will allow licensed virtual asset brokers to offer margin financing to clients with strong credit profiles. Existing rules for securities margin financing would apply, with added safeguards such as limiting collateral to bitcoin and ethereum to account for volatility.
A high-level framework for virtual asset perpetual contracts will also be launched, with access restricted to professional investors and strict rules applied on transparency, risk controls and fair platform management.
“These are very light examples of how to bring traditional finance and digital finance together, and we are experimenting [with] that,” said Eric Yip Chee-hang, the SFC’s executive director heading the intermediaries division.
