Ye Zhiheng: Hong Kong adheres to a prudent and coordinated regulatory approach, with approximately 65% progress on the February roadmap.

On November 4, Eric Yip, a member of the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), stated at the Finternet 2025 Asia Digital Assets Summit that Hong Kong's regulatory legislation for digital assets still requires more time. Appropriate legislation needs to be conducted dynamically, and the voices of this vibrant market and industry must be heard to ensure that the regulatory approach keeps pace with the times. The Hong Kong SFC is not the fastest and most aggressive regulatory body; it currently follows a prudent and consistent regulatory approach. In February of this year, the SFC released a roadmap, and the overall implementation progress can be represented as 65%. It hopes to describe it as 100% or even 110% by this time next year. On February 19, 2025, the Hong Kong SFC will release the “ASPIRe” roadmap at the Consensus Hong Kong 2025 forum, strengthening the security, innovation, and growth of Hong Kong's virtual asset market through a framework of five pillars, promoting the sustainable development of the virtual asset ecosystem. The roadmap covers 12 key initiatives, including simplifying market access processes, strengthening protection mechanisms (such as custody and insurance regulations), expanding product ranges (such as considering opening virtual asset stake, derivatives trading, and Margin loans), upgrading infrastructure (such as hot/cold Wallet security management), and enhancing cooperative relationships with stakeholders. SFC CEO Alison Lee emphasized that the core of this roadmap is to expand the services of Virtual Asset Trading Platforms (VATP), while ensuring Compliance and investor protection, to consolidate Hong Kong's position as a global hub for virtual asset Liquidity.