Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has upgraded the licences of OSL and Hashkey Exchange allowing them to expand their crypto trading businesses to retail investors. Regulatory changes that took effect on 1 June 2023 allowed crypto exchanges already licensed under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) for regulated activities Types 1 (dealing in securities) and 7 (providing automated trading services) to upgrade those licences to enable them to provide trading to retail investors in “highly liquid” cryptocurrencies, subject to complying with certain additional investor protection measures. Both firms will initially offer retail trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum only.
The SFC is also accepting licensing applications from crypto exchanges new to Hong Kong under the new VASP licensing regime under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance and the existing SFO licensing regime.
Sources: https://rb.gy/lek02
