Paris-based cryptocurrency market data provider Kaiko will move its Asian headquarters to Hong Kong from Singapore as it sees growing opportunities amid the city’s recent regulation changes toward digital assets, its chief executive officer Ambre Soubiran told Bloomberg in a March 16 interview.
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Fast facts
- Soubiran told Bloomberg that the recent changes and initiatives from Hong Kong regulators toward digital assets will draw hedge funds and asset managers as well as more capital to the city.
- Kaiko’s head of Asia-Pacific Sean Lawrence will relocate from Singapore at the end of this month, the report said. Kaiko provides businesses with cryptocurrency market data from more than a hundred centralized and decentralized exchanges, according to its website.
- Hong Kong has been proposing new initiatives for the city’s cryptocurrency and digital asset sector since last year, when it invited firms interested in providing securitized token services to pitch proposals.
- Last month, the Securities Futures Commission, or SFC, published draft rules for virtual asset trading platforms, including the requirement for crypto exchanges to apply for licenses that would allow retail investors to trade certain large-capitalization tokens. The new licensing regime for crypto exchanges in Hong Kong is due on June 1.
- “I think the overarching message [from regulators] is, yes, we recognize that crypto and digital assets are here to stay, but we want to make sure that we regulate it in exactly the same way as traditional finance and traditional financial institutions,” Henry Chong, CEO of Malaysia and Hong Kong-based digital securities exchange Fusang, told Forkast in a video interview last Thursday.
- The special administrative region is also looking to introduce a mandatory licensing regime for stablecoin issuers as early as this year, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced in January.
- Other global crypto players such as Huobi Global and Gate.io have said they are applying for new crypto licenses in Hong Kong.
See related article: Hong Kong begins public consultation on crypto licensing regime