Hong Kong regulator unveils ‘ASPIRe’ roadmap to become global crypto hub

2025-02-20 10:14:52 Primitive Reading

From cointelegraph by ARIJIT SARKAR

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has introduced a new roadmap aimed at positioning the city as a global cryptocurrency hub.

On Feb. 19, the SEC announced the “ASPIRe” roadmap in hopes of future-proofing Hong Kong’s virtual asset ecosystem.

It responds to challenges such as fragmented liquidity, regulatory arbitrage and market volatility while fostering innovation through a five-pillar strategy: access, safeguards, products, infrastructure and relationships.

Hong Kong SFC’s A-S-P-I-Re roadmap for crypto assets. Source: Hong Kong SFC

The new roadmap involves 12 initiatives spread across five broad categories, which include providing market access, optimizing compliance and frameworks and improving blockchain efficiency.

Related: Hong Kong investment firm’s shares surge 93% after buying just 1 Bitcoin

The “Access” pillar calls for streamlining market entry, “Safeguards” deals with enhancing compliance without stifling growth, and “Products” focuses on expanding virtual asset offerings. The SFC stated:

“This embodies a pragmatic approach to solidify Hong Kong’s role as a trusted nexus for virtual asset liquidity.”

The other two pillars — “Infrastructure” and “Relationships” — are dedicated to strengthening oversight and compliance and education, engagement and transparency, respectively.

Taking notice of interest from institutional investors

The SFC also noted the increasing dominance of institutional investors globally that are contributing to the crypto market capitalization. However, regulatory disparities between major financial hubs such as Singapore, Europe, the United States and China present challenges for compliance and market stability.

The increased institutional adoption is further blurring the lines between crypto and traditional finance (TradFi), according to the SFC:

“This convergence presents dual opportunities: applying TradFi’s compliance rigor to virtual assets and leveraging blockchain-driven innovations to modernize TradFi.”

Calls for updating rules to accommodate crypto innovation

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