Hong Kong Needs to Respond to Crypto Market Changes with New Rules - Treasury Chief

cryptonews.com:

Hong Kong regulators and senior members of the government have spoken about their willingness of introducing new rules to police the crypto sector, with a new set of guidelines already formulated for crypto brokerages.

According to RTHK, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu noted that the government now needed to make a “response to market changes” as the popularity of tokens such as bitcoin (BTC) continues to grow.

Hui was speaking at a summit with financial chiefs and regulators, where he stated that the government was planning to propose an amendment to the Hong Kong Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Act pertaining to a licensing system and regulation of crypto exchanges “this year.” He praised Hong Kong’s record in AML-related activities, but stated that there was “still work to be done” if the province were to “maintain its status as an international financial center.”

Hui added that the popularity of “virtual assets” was driving the need to amend legislation to “add provisions to prohibit unlicensed exchanges from promoting their services.

The Secretary stated that similar moves had already been made in Germany and Switzerland. But he also hinted that Hong Kong may seek to allow retail investors greater access to the crypto markets.

Also in attendance was Julia Leung, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director (Intermediary Department), who remarked that the existing rules surrounding crypto brokers, financial institutions, and other intermediaries needed to be tightened – adding that trading platforms needed to ensure that their own funds and those of their customers needed to be kept separate.

She was quoted as saying