Hong Kong’s securities regulator has approved the city’s third cryptocurrency exchange, the first to be licensed under a two-year-old virtual-asset regulatory regime that has so far struggled to gain traction.
Hong Kong Virtual Asset Exchange on Thursday obtained a licence for its trading platform HKVAX, according to an updated list on the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) website.
With its expertise in security token offerings (STO) and real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation, HKVAX aims to offer over-the-counter trading, exchange and custody services, the company said in a statement published on Friday.
The licence “demonstrates Hong Kong’s resolve to lead in the virtual-asset industry”, while HKVAX aims to establish the city as “the STO and RWA centre for Asia and beyond”, co-founder and chief executive Anthony Ng said in the statement.
The company’s trading platform and onboarding system are still “undergoing final preparations”, the company said in a notice on its website.