BC Technology Group, a Hong Kong-listed technology digital asset company and parent of OSL, the first licensed digital asset platform in the city, today announced that its group revenues rose 54% year on year to HK$153 million (US$20 million) in the first half of 2021, driven by a 70% increase in OSL’s digital asset business revenue.
Fast facts
- Digital assets accounted for the lion share’s — 75% — of BC Group’s revenues, an increase of 10% year on year, with its OSL digital assets platform being the key revenue contributor. OSL’s exchange volume surged 7,506% year on year to HK$24.3 billion and its brokerage trading volume increased 28% to HK$88 billion.
- OSL’s technology infrastructure software-as-a-service business also saw strong growth, with trading volume up 3,029% year on year to HK$4.9 billion, driven by increasing institutional investment in crypto.
- OSL is the technology service provider for Singapore-based DBS Bank’s digital asset exchange, which supports cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, XRP and securities tokens. OSL, which has a revenue sharing arrangement with DBS, expects revenues from the partnership to grow over the next 12 to 24 months and beyond, the company said in a media briefing.
- In June, OSL joined forces with Standard Chartered bank to launch a digital asset trading and brokerage platform for institutional and corporate clients in Europe and the United Kingdom. The registration process to secure a license in the United Kingdom and Ireland is under way, the company said.
- Assets on the OSL platform increased 36% to HK$3.8 billion. The institutional- and professional investor-focused OSL platform also saw strong customer growth of more than 1,261% to over 77,000 active clients, largely due to the momentum of its software-as-a-service business, the company said.
- BC Group reported a net loss of HK$158 million for the first half, up 58% year on year, with higher operating costs related to increased investments in technology and scaling the business.
- Earlier this year, BC Group raised HK$1.24 billion in two share placements. The first, led by Morgan Stanley, raised HK$698 million from institutional investors including UBS, Fidelity and Robeco, and the second, led by Macquarie, saw Singapore soverign wealth fund GIC take a HK$543 million stake in the company.
- “Worldwide digital adoption will catalyze growth in digital assets, for which our business is poised to scale. Increasing regulatory clarity will also drive greater participation in digital assets among major global financial institutions and governments,” said Hugh Madden, CEO of BC Group, at the media briefing. “We expect to see regulatory enforcements against unregulated platforms start to drive market share for the group with its licensing strategy, and we expect to see this occur by mid 2022.”