Hong Kong is intensifying its bid to become a global digital asset (DA) hub with the release of an updated policy statement focused on accelerating stablecoin use and tokenisation efforts, amid renewed momentum in the US this year.
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“The government’s highly anticipated Policy Statement 2.0, aimed at establishing Hong Kong as a global digital assets hub, comes at a time when Trump 2.0 is trying to make America the ‘crypto capital of the planet’,” said Andrew Fei, a partner at King & Wood Mallesons in Hong Kong.
The city on Thursday released its “Policy Statement 2.0 on the Development of Digital Assets in Hong Kong”, an update to the first blueprint issued in late 2022, which first clarified the government’s intent to court cryptocurrency business.
Hong Kong is committed to bringing itself “to new heights of global digital asset leadership” in response to the “evolving global DA landscape”, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) said in the policy statement.
The document comes as the US has rapidly become a more favourable environment for crypto companies this year, under the friendlier policies of the second administration of President Donald Trump. Cryptocurrency values have surged since his election in November, which has also energised business activity in the sector.
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Last week, the US Senate passed a bill regulating the use of stablecoins, called the Genius Act, after Hong Kong passed its own law on the assets in May. The Hong Kong ordinance will take effect on August 1.
It shows that the “global race for digital assets innovation is well under way”, Fei said.