tl;dr
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has allowed licensed virtual asset trading platforms to offer staking services, aiming to position the city as a crypto hub in the Asia-Pacific region. SFC Executive Director Christina Choi announced the guidance at the Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2025...
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has permitted licensed virtual asset trading platforms to offer staking services, aiming to establish the city as a hub for crypto and virtual assets in the Asia-Pacific region. The new framework for staking mandates platforms to safeguard staked assets, obtain SFC approval, and disclose associated risks, following the regulator's earlier roadmap to enhance market access and expand virtual asset offerings.
Christina Choi, SFC Executive Director, highlighted the potential of virtual assets to drive financial innovation during her keynote speech at the Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2025. The new staking framework requires platforms to maintain custody of staked assets, obtain SFC approval, and disclose associated risks, including slashing penalties, unstacking processes, lock-up periods, and technical vulnerabilities due to hacking risk and inactivity.
This move follows the regulator's initiatives to enhance market access, tighten regulatory safeguards, and expand the range of virtual assets offered within its jurisdiction. Hong Kong has gained momentum in regulated digital assets, launching virtual asset spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum and is projected to lead China's ETF market in digital assets, with potential market size exceeding $700 billion within the year.
Choi emphasized blockchain's transformative potential in finance, likening it to the impact of the floppy disk pre-Web 1.0, highlighting its potential to rewrite the rules of finance and beyond.