On 7 July 2025, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HK SFC) convened the second meeting of its Digital Asset Consultative Panel (DACP), to engage directly with HK SFC-licensed virtual asset trading platforms on policy, regulatory, and market development issues. Central to the meeting was discussion of current and future initiatives under the ASPIRe roadmap, including the recently launched public consultations on legislative proposals to regulate virtual asset dealing and custodian services. The DACP forms a critical institutional channel for the HK SFC to collaborate with market stakeholders in shaping a robust and globally competitive digital asset regulatory ecosystem.
The DACP meeting focused on several high-priority themes within the digital asset regulatory agenda, particularly, enhancing market accessibility (Pillar A) through appropriate licensing, onboarding, and compliance pathways for qualified participants; broadening the range of product offerings (Pillar P) within a safe and transparent regulatory framework; and discussing the ongoing Public Consultation on Legislative Proposal to Regulate Dealing in Virtual Assets and Public Consultation on Legislative Proposal to Regulate Virtual Asset Custodian Services, launched jointly by the HK SFC and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) on 27 June 2025.
Dr Eric Yip, Executive Director of Intermediaries at the SFC and chair of the DACP, commented:
“Today’s DACP meeting is constructive and insightful, underscoring the importance of engagement with licensed VATPs in nurturing a sustainable and competitive digital asset ecosystem.”
The meeting also explored challenges in balancing investor protection and market innovation, in light of global scrutiny and rapidly evolving business models in digital asset markets. The DACP’s role has been realigned with the Hong Kong Government’s Policy Statement 2.0 on the Development of Digital Assets, issued on 26 June 2025, which formalised a more unified digital asset regulatory lexicon and renamed the former “Virtual Asset Consultative Panel” to the Digital Asset Consultative Panel. This reflects a broader scope of engagement beyond just virtual assets to encompass all forms of tokenised and digital financial instruments.
The DACP is also embedded within Pillar Re (Relationships) of the HK SFC’s ASPIRe roadmap (announced on 19 February 2025), which calls for deepened regulator-market collaboration, with licensed digital asset intermediaries.
(Source: https://apps.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/news-and-announcements/news/doc?refNo=25PR104)
