Hong Kong to explore boosting tokenised gold trading in city

Authorities are looking into boosting tokenised gold trading in Hong Kong as a step forward to becoming the world’s first such settlement centre and shielding the city against US-dollar dominance amid rising geopolitics, the Post has learned.

Sources said Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu was expected to enhance efforts to build up Hong Kong into an international gold trading centre in his policy address on Wednesday, his second-last blueprint for his incumbent term.

“His policy advisers have proposed to Lee to set out a policy to facilitate tokenised gold trading in Hong Kong so as to turn the city into the first such digital settlement centre in the world. Lee is positive about it,” an insider said.

“The move will boost gold trading in Asia and bypass the Western-dominated international payment settlement system amid the rising geopolitics, while we will still maintain a high standard of transaction monitoring and anti-money laundering measures.”

The source said the digital gold trading would help Hong Kong stave off Western sanctions such as a SWIFT ban on Russian banks due to the Russian-Ukraine war. The ban excluded several major Russian banks from the SWIFT global financial messaging network, aiming to disrupt the country’s ability to conduct international financial transactions.

He said the enhancement of tokenised gold trading would further consolidate Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre as it would lower the investment barrier and further boost liquidity.

He highlighted the current inadequacies of gold trading in Hong Kong, citing digital gold available from one commercial bank did not permit the redemption of the physical precious metal.