Hong Kong sets 2026 deadline for crypto licensing bill — SkimNews
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Christopher Hui, Hong Kong's Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, told a Monday policy briefing that the government will submit a crypto licensing amendment bill "within this year," per a Hong Kong government statement.
- The amendment bill will establish a licensing framework across four categories: digital asset trading, custody, advisory, and management services, responding to "innovative developments" in financial technology cited by Hui.
- Hong Kong regulators first revealed in January plans for a crypto asset regulatory draft before end-2026, when Hui also disclosed that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had begun processing stablecoin issuer license applications.
- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted its first stablecoin issuer licenses in April to Anchorpoint Financial and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).
- The licensing push positions the territory's crypto oversight to extend beyond stablecoins into broader digital asset activity by year-end, four months after the first stablecoin approvals.
Why it matters: By codifying a licensing regime for trading, custody, advisory and management services in a single amendment bill, Hong Kong is consolidating fragmented crypto oversight into one framework before end-2026. For stablecoin issuers already approved — including HSBC and Anchorpoint — and any firm eyeing digital asset activity in the city, the deadline sets a concrete clock for compliance planning.
Ask SkimNews
