Hong Kong finance chief touts ‘same risk, same regulation’… underscores virtual-asset regulatory principle at Davos forum
공유하기
Summary
- The Hong Kong government reaffirmed the “same activity, same risk, same regulation” principle, saying a balance is needed between innovation and financial stability.
- Hong Kong said it is operating a licensing regime for virtual-asset trading platforms, expects to issue stablecoin-related licences, and is running pilot trials for tokenised deposits and digital-asset transactions.
- Hong Kong said it will push to expand the tokenisation ecosystem through asset tokenisation—including tokenised green bonds and tokenised USD-denominated money market funds—and the Fintech 2030 “DART framework”.
The Hong Kong government reaffirmed its “same activity, same risk, same regulation” principle for virtual-asset oversight, saying a balance is needed between innovation and financial stability.
According to a Jan. 21 (local time) report by Cointelegraph, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan attended a closed-door workshop at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, and, speaking on the direction of digital-asset regulation, said that “the convergence of finance and technology is accelerating,” stressing that “regulatory safeguards are essential to ensure financial stability, market integrity and investor protection.”
Chan said “digital assets should support the real economy,” adding that “at the same time, we must prepare for risks that could undermine the stability of the financial system, market integrity and investor protection.” He explained that Hong Kong’s “same activity, same risk, same regulation” principle is an approach that sets regulatory intensity based on the level of risk embedded in the business activity, rather than on the technology itself.
Hong Kong already operates a licensing regime for virtual-asset trading platforms, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is running pilot trials of transactions using tokenised deposits and digital assets. Chan added that stablecoin-related licences are expected to be issued in the first quarter of this year.
Hong Kong has also issued tokenised green bonds on-chain on three occasions since 2023, with cumulative issuance reaching $2.1 billion. These are instances of traditional bonds for financing environmental projects being issued on a blockchain.
Hong Kong has recently been focusing on asset tokenisation as a real-world use case for virtual assets. In October last year, the Hong Kong subsidiary of China Merchants Bank (CMB) issued a tokenised, USD-denominated money market fund worth $3.8 billion on BNB Chain.
Through its Fintech 2030 strategy, the HKMA presented the “DART” framework, with data and artificial intelligence, system resilience and tokenisation as core pillars. It plans to promote the expansion of the tokenisation ecosystem through more than 40 initiatives over the next five years.
