East Asia
Hong Kong grants fresh licence to HKVAX to operate city’s third cryptocurrency exchange
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.